There and Back Again
by Iyami-sama
Summary: Last chapter posted. Jewel shards which survived to the 22nd century must be returned to the Warring States Era so that the jewel may be eventually be completed. AU. Rated for violence, language and suggestive dialogue. XO with Inuyasha.
1. Youkai Exist?

**Author's Notes**:

This piece is moved from its original category - it started out life in the Inuyasha section, but after finishing it I got bored and started a "sequel" to it. I've left the footnotes and such the way they originally were in the Inuyasha section, so some of them, particularly the big one at the bottom of this first chapter, is going to be pretty "well, duh, baka" for this audience. The piece I'm working on now will pick up where this one leaves off; hopefully it won't be too much spoiler now to say that the sequel takes place entirely post-movie. In true Nadesico form, I even leave a bit of a blank. ;-) Its subplot's a little too grounded in Nadesico for me to not lose people who've seen none of the series, even if the main plot's pretty straightforward. At least, I hope that's the case. For those that have only seen the series, hopefully I can spark some interest in you to research into the Blank of Three Years and Prince of Darkness, the latter of which should come out in time for the holiday season. We think. I'm also going to plug my two favorite Nadesico resources - **www.rurihosino.com** and **www.peacefuldays.org,** both of which are fantastic sources of Nadesico goodness. Both are active sources and the latter hosts a forum for Nadesico fans - drop on by and post something. For those unfamiliar with Inuyasha, I recommend hitting up **www.iridescent-dreams.net**, it's a pretty good resource, especially if the Inuyasha section here seems intimidating. 

I'm not a big fan of long introductory author's notes, but I'm tossing this one in anyways. Yes, the story's winding down to a close - it will work out to be 25 chapters. Looking at my stats, it seems I have 5-6 dedicated readers, so I thank you for your patronage. :) This note mainly is aimed at you guys - a few days after 25 finishes posting don't look for this story in the Inuyasha section. Why? I intend to move it over to the Nadesico section for a "permenant" home. There is method to this madness - I'm working on a "sequel" of sorts which picks up where this one will end, literally. (As in "later that evening...") Plot on this current story's pretty straight forward, but on this other one I'm trying to do things the Nadesico way - fluffy moments at the beginning masking dark undercurrents. At least, that's what I'm hoping I'll accomplish with it. ^_^; It'll be a bit before it's ready to begin posting - the first draft isn't even _fine_ yet. While it will certainly remain an Inuyasha/Nadesico crossover, it relies too much upon Nadesico events to merit posting in this section. (Yes, I'm also aware of the irony of this statement as compared to the original footnote at the bottom of this chapter. oh well. This is the next story, that's this one. We need some antecedants here.) While nothing Nadesico I've done is canonical, the Inuyasha part of the sequel is so far outside of canon it's laughable. :) Anyways, on with what you've paid for...

**Standard Disclaimer**:

I don't own any of the characters from Inuyasha, Nadesico, or other series. This work contains Miroku, some suggestion, language, and a bit of the old ultra-violence. Don't say I didn't warn you.

And without further ado…

**********

There and Back Again 

Chapter One: Youkai Exist?

"So, you actually believe these fairy tales about a magic bead?"

"Fairy tales or no, I don't care. You saw the newspaper that day, and you were the one who suggested commissioning that report. Besides, we saw that... thing's corpse ourselves and have photographs of it decaying as soon as that pink thing popped out of its head."

"Yeah but that was before I read this," the first man replied, pointing at the two-inch-thick binder on the table.

"Look, we know moving forward in time is possible. Einstein proved it mathematically, and her ship proved it in practice," the second man retorted, jerking a thumb at the third and final person at the table, a young girl. "Why don't we at least find out if Einstein _might_ be wrong and that travel backwards in time is at least _possible_?"

The third person at the table continued to remain a spectator to the debate before her. It was taking all of her self control not to say "baka" anyway. Though her adopted parents really weren't that much older than she was, they had tried to make her believe that telling the entirety of the truth all the time might not necessarily be a good thing. This was especially when it came to pointing out stupidity in others.

The phone in the middle of the table beeped, disrupting the disputing colleagues.

"Sir, Inutaishou-san is here, as is his, um, assistant."

A screech of "I am the VASSAL to Inutaishou-SAMA!" could be heard through the secretary's headset.

"Er, yes. Inutaishou-san and his VASSAL are here to see you sir."

"Very well, send them in," the first man replied. He was really going to have to send his secretary on vacation. She was getting more stressed out every day.

The office's door opened, and a staff wavered in. The table's occupants stood, whereupon they saw that the floating staff was actually being carried by a rather short and ugly creature. Behind the disturbing creature strode a man with flowing white hair.

"Inutaishou-san, I'm Mark Laymen, and this is Mike Johnson," Laymen gestured at the man who suggested the report, "and this," he concluded, motioning to the lone woman in the room, "is-"

"Hoshino Ruri," Inutaishou stated, bowing to her. Hoshino blushed slightly and returned the bow.

The creature who walked in with Inutaishou addressed the room, "And I am Jaken, vassal to Lords Inutaishou Inuyasha and Inutaishou Sess ---"

"Baka."

Laymen and Johnson glared at Hoshino then turned to apologize to Inutaishou. That appeared to be unnecessary, as he was smiling at the child. "Shut up and sit down, Jaken. You may have considered yourself a vassal to my father, but I am not a Lord."

"Er, yes, Inuyasha-sama."

Laymen started to look for a chair for the bizarre little guest, but found it unnecessary when the creature planted himself on the floor next to the drink cart and apparently began to meditate.

Inutaishou took the fourth, formerly unoccupied, seat at the table, which was opposite Hoshino. Laymen and Johnson quickly resumed their seats. Johnson was clearly the subordinate here, shuffling the papers in front of him while Laymen didn't even bother to uncap a pen.

"So, I suppose this is about my little stunt a few weeks ago." Inutaishou said flatly. Johnson shuffled more papers and started immediately breaking a sweat. Inutaishou had to smile. These were obviously corporate types who didn't like bluntness very much. Laymen was faring better, but couldn't mask the fact that his smell changed slightly. Hoshino was unchanged, but if any of the stories were true, then bluntness wouldn't be rude to her at all. If it had been pairs poker it would have been an interesting match with the way the table was arranged.

"Yes," Laymen responded, trying to match the newcomer's bluntness. "As you may or may not be aware, Nergal is interested in researching all aspects of Boson jumping. We're interested in chasing a few rabbits along the way, so long as the cost isn't too great. After you killed that... _thing_... some digging into your background turned up some stories from about 150 years ago that claim that one of the ancestors in your family was able to travel backwards and forwards in time thanks to a bead of some kind.

"We would like to find out the validity of these claims, and if possible scientifically examine this item which might allow time travel..."

"Thereby proving Einstein wrong about traveling backwards in time, blah, blah, blah. Laymen-san, do you believe in the existence of youkai?"

"Huh?" Laymen was obviously caught off-guard.

The visitor stood, dragging Johnson to his feet along with him. The two moved to the center of the room where there was open space. Inutaishou's traveling cloak flew to the floor, revealing a sword at his side. Johnson's discomfort with the situation increased a notch.

"Obviously, you do not. It is the twenty-second century, and demons and ghosts are things that only exist in children's books. Science is our god, and if we cannot prove empirically something exists, it cannot exist. Especially magic and demons." Johnson wasn't liking the visitor's tone at all. Inutaishou withdrew the sword from his side, and tossed the still-sheathed blade to Hoshino.

"Hoshino-san, please test the sharpness of this blade on some inanimate object."

"Hai," she replied, unsheathing the blade carefully. Grasping the sword in both hands, she rather crudely pruned a nearby potted tree down to its stump. Having only expected to put a notch in the trunk, Hoshino was more surprised than anyone in the room at the shrubbery which now lay on the floor, its trunk propped up on its little white fence. She even more carefully returned the blade to its sheath and handed the weapon back to its owner. She sat back down in the chair she had left and calmly looked at the now profusely sweating Johnson.

"Now, Hoshino-san, if I could trouble you for a second favor," the visitor continued, placing the sword back in his belt at his side, "Please observe the next few moments carefully and, afterwards, tell me what you saw."

Hoshino nodded, Johnson started praying, and Laymen started jotting figures on the price of funerals on a nearby pad. Inutaishou Inuyasha turned away from Johnson and gripped the sword he had just loaned Ruri. "Johnson, I would like to introduce you to Tenseiga." 

Even Hoshino Ruri flinched as Inutaishou spun and drove his sword across Johnson's body with lightning speed. She did not, however, close her eyes, and noted the definite lack of blood on the thick carpets.

"OH MY GOD I'M DEAD! I'M A GHOST!" Johnson screamed.

"Baka."

Inutaishou returned to his seat, Jaken smiled, and Laymen failed to remember to close his mouth. Johnson was slowly realizing that he wasn't floating around staring at his body, and that there was indeed a lack of blood anywhere. Hoshino was the only person to acknowledge that Laymen's secretary had stuck her head in the room and ducked back out, seeing that the only thing that was apparently wrong was a plant missing its top. She made a note to call the plant people later for a replacement. Normally they just died because her boss didn't water them. Oh well, what's one more?

Johnson slowly returned to his seat, and Laymen slowly closed his mouth. Once the two men had somewhat regained their composure, Inutaishou looked squarely at Hoshino Ruri. "What did you see?"

"You drew your sword and performed a strike on Johnson-baka's person which should have cut him into two. I saw the blade pass through his body, but never saw any blood. Johnson-baka is unfortunately still alive." Hoshino's words appeared to re-assure Johnson enough to stop feeling for wounds on his chest. Johnson also started thinking long enough to remember that "baka" wasn't supposed to be an honorific.

Reality was also settling in on Laymen, and he was beginning to become outraged at the display that had just happened in his office. Guest or not, killing his employees shouldn't be tolerated, even if the employee was as annoying as Johnson. Inutaishou was apparently reading all of this and was settling back to enjoy the poison about to spew from the man's mouth. Laymen stopped and tried to regain composure once more. Beating him to words, the guest spoke.

"Science clearly dictates that what did just happen, should not have happened. This is a concept I have spent much of my lifetime trying to reconcile." Laymen was obviously sizing up the visitor's age as a fraction of his own. His eyes were laughing at Inutaishou spending any part of a young man's life in pursuit of science and accomplishing anything. He continued, "I see that your research isn't quite complete. You have no idea how old I really am, do you?"

"Somehow your family doesn't have any records on file! How can we?" Johnson interjected.

Inutaishou laughed, almost cruelly. "Everything about my family for the past several centuries is properly recorded, I assure you."

"LIAR!" Johnson didn't enjoy people saying that the people he had under him didn't do their research properly. "If that's true, then there haven't been any births, deaths, or marriages in your family since 2075!"

Ruri looked at the white-haired guest and watched his expression soften. "Baka," she replied for him, "There haven't."

Inuyasha's face smiled at Ruri. Laymen and Johnson's brains were frying in their skulls, their mouths trying to form objections, but only making odd gurgling noises.

"Indeed. Kagome-sama died in late 2074, having lived her life happily with my uncle. It was my uncle, Inuyasha-sama, son of the great Inutaishou-sama, who died in January of 2075, of what can only be described as a broken heart at losing Kagome-sama. It was the only time I saw my father...no matter.

"Everyone at this table has a separate agenda in this. Some are not even aware of their entire agenda here." Ruri felt very odd at his saying this, but wasn't sure why. "Your agenda, Laymen-san, is evident and obvious, and you do not care what the agenda is for anyone else here. You wish to control moving forwards and backwards in time. I strongly urge you not to continue down this path, but there is the chance of profit down this path. Men such as yourself are not dissuaded by morals when money is involved. Therefore, the clan of Inutaishou shall be an intermediary."

******

**Footnotes**:

All footnotes here are pretty much clarifying things if you haven't seen Nadesico (the series – seeing Prince of Darkness, the movie, isn't vital at all to the story).

For those who have seen the series but want to know where in the timeline things are, here goes. The events with Nadesico occur around 2145, and once it's over everybody goes about their daily lives or tries to. The Nadesico timeline says that after the series is over, someone has to take care of Ruri, and it ends up being Misumaru Yurika, the Captain, who gets the job. Remember, Ruri is about thirteen. Yurika's father, one of the top dogs in the military, doesn't like her relationship with Tenkawa Akito, and she ends up moving in with him. I assume that she takes Ruri with her (it'd only make sense). This is the point things are set at – Tenkawa and Misumaru do get married and en route to their honeymoon their shuttle explodes with no survivors (the voice from nowhere sounds "Or ARE there?"), but that's after this story and shortly before Prince of Darkness. I call Ruri thirteen in this, but in the "real" timeline she may between 12 and 14. I know that Prince of Darkness is at 16. The point that matters to the story is she's pre-puberty (#^_^#;)

Nergal is the "mega-corp" of the Nadesico world. They have their hand in everything, and own several warships which are loaned to the military.

"Her ship" is the Nadesico, on which she was the computer operator. (She will be the captain later ^_^)

The world of Nadesico does not have faster-than light engine technology. They do, however, have a variant of Bebop's Hypergates, called Chulips. Chulips are activated by Chulip Crystals, or CC's, which are little blue diamond-shaped (as in playing-card diamond-shaped) which are "keys" to the Chulips. The Chulips create large amounts of Boson particles which is how they jump a ship through space, and hence the term "Boson jumping". All of this is controlled by a massive supercomputer an ancient race built into Mars' South Pole. When humans terraformed Mars, the as-of-yet-unknown supercomputer somehow subtly re-wrote the DNA of the humans on the planet so that they could use the Chulip gates and Boson jump. If a ship tries to make a boson jump without someone from Mars (e.g., with the computer-modified DNA) onboard, most likely it will come out the other end with all its crew dead.


	2. Car Rides and Tea on the Lawn

**Author's Note**:  Footnotes follow at the end of the chapter.

******

There and Back Again 

Chapter Two:  Car Rides and Tea on the Lawn

            The rest of the day was tedious for the grandson of Inutaishou, and flat out boring for Hoshino and Jaken.  All that Hoshino could accurately remember was that her adoptive parents, Misumaru Yurika and Tenkawa Akito, would meet her at the estate of the Inutaishou family.  From there, she would be given free rein to study the idea of traveling back in time using a combination of Chulip Crystals and Shikon no Kakera [**1**].  The Nergal suits didn't like the idea of having the research conducted outside of their labs, but their guest would not hear of allowing the research to occur outside of his own home.  Finally, at around 3:00 in the afternoon, a settlement was reached which involved little cash outlay from Nergal, a fact that pleased the suits and the suits above them more than anything else.

            Hoshino Ruri found herself standing outside the Nergal offices with Inutaishou Inuyasha and the odd creature Jaken waiting for a company car to arrive.

            "Inutaishou-sama?"

            "Inuyasha is fine.  Other youkai in this day and age are rare.  I haven't fought enough to earn the title Inutaishou-sama."

            "So, you really do believe everything you said in there?"

            "It is not a case of what one believes or disbelieves.  Do you think that most legends and myths have a grain of truth in them?"

            "It is not unreasonable."

            "Then why not more than a grain?"

            The car pulled up, and Jaken busied himself relieving his master of the youkai's sword.  ("You try sitting in one of those boxes wearing a sword!" Jaken had said.)  Hoshino lapsed back into silence until they were on their way.

            "Inuyasha sam..san," she started, realizing they were one member short of when they stood outside Nergal's offices, "where is Jaken-baka?"

            "The trunk."

            For one of the few times that Hoshino Ruri could remember, she had no comeback.  She simply stared at the man across the seat from her. "The..."

            "Trunk.  Yes.  Jaken-san... never took to cars.  He can barely stomach a speedboat.  I tried to get him to fly with me once.  That didn't turn out too well."

            "Baka.  Everyone rides in cars and planes."

            "Forgive me for saying this, but 'baka' yourself. How old do I look?"

            "20."

            "And yet I remember my uncle's death.  That means I must have been born before 2075.  That means I'm how old?"

            "A hund..." Hoshino's brain was flying through gears trying to reconcile what she was hearing and heard earlier against what she was seeing.

            Inuyasha thumped the rear window ledge.  "Jaken-san.  How old are you?"

            "I am.. *urk* over nine hund... oooOOooOOoOO... when will it be oooOOOoOOver??"

            Ignoring further sounds emanating from the trunk, Inuyasha continued.  "My uncle, for whom I was named, was the younger of the two children my grandfather sired.  Inuyasha-sama was a hanyou, a half-breed, because of his human mother.  Thus, had he not chosen to follow Aunt Kagome in death, his lifespan would still have been roughly half that of a full youkai, such as my father Sesshoumaru and myself.  You still don't have enough evidence to believe me or disbelieve me, do you?"  The girl shook her head, and they quietly rode out the rest of the trip.

******

            Pulling into the home of Inutaishou, Hoshino recognized her parents' car, and saw them out in the garden apparently having tea with a distinguished-looking gentleman.  Upon approaching them, Ruri watched Inuyasha bow politely before his father and then her parents.  Sesshoumaru extended Ruri the same courtesy, and the two latecomers joined the trio.  The elder of the Inutaishou clan skipped further pleasantries with his son.

            "How did the meeting go?"

            "It is as you feared, father.  They wish to use the Shikon no Tama to move backwards through time.  I am also not sure that they are merely interested in bending time.  Furthermore, I do not think they are fully cognizant of the disruption that could be caused by one person going backwards in time."  The younger Inutaishou caught the blank stares coming from the other couple, and turned to Hoshino.  "Ruri-san, care to 'naze nani' this for us?"  [**2**]

            "Baka.  I won't put that hat back on, ever.  It is simple.  If you go back in time, and kill your mother before you are born, how could your mother bear you so that you could in the future, and past, kill her?"

            Looks of "I get this.  Okay, not really.  But sort of.", flashed in the eyes of Hoshino's guardians.

            "While there are many subtleties and variations to the theory, you are essentially correct.  Moving backwards into the past creates the possibility of doing something to irreparably harm the present.  A blind way to provide rebuttal would be to claim that history is history, and paradoxes such as the one you described cannot exist.  The truth is that we don't know.  Kagome-obasan did travel forward and backward in time, as did Inuyasha-sama, but we simply don't know if they were just lucky or you really can't alter the timeline to create paradoxes.

            "Oh!  Hoshino-san, forgive me, for I had forgotten.  Sesshoumaru-sama, at least one of our guests does not necessarily believe in youkai.  May I provide her with proof?"

            "Indeed.  Just do not destroy the fountain.  It was only recently that it was repaired from the last time I lost my temper."

            "Arigato, Otou-san," Inuyasha said, bowing as he rose to his feet.  He walked out into the middle of the open garden.  Out of curiosity, Ruri followed him until he stopped and turned to her.  He turned and faced her, his eyes flashing bright red.  Frightened despite herself, Ruri took several steps back towards her parents. As she retreated, the youkai took steps away from her as well, and with a flash of fire and heat, transformed into a horse-sized white dog.  Ruri's eyes became even wider than normal as she stared at the transformed youkai.  Misumaru Yurika's fear for her child was plain, but a comforting hand on her shoulder from Sesshoumaru calmed her somehow.  Ruri slowly walked up to the beast, who kneeled down before her and lowered his head as she approached.

            "You... really... are... " Ruri started.

            "Indeed.  It is safe, Hoshino-san, I have no intention of harming you."

            Despite her normal reserved-ness, Ruri climbed up onto the back of her acquaintance's new form.  Much to her surprise, he leaped off of the ground and began flying in a lazy circle around the compound.   Akito and Yurika were not sure which to be more surprised at, their daughter taking to an almost complete stranger, or the fact that the stories they heard about ghosts and goblins as children just might be true.

******

**Footnotes:**

1.  Shikon no Kakera – The shards of the Shikon no Tama

2.  Naze Nani Nadesico! – In an effort to keep crew morale up, as well as to explain some of the particulars of their ship, the Nadesico, to her crew, Yurika created a television show for the ship and called it Naze Nani Nadesico.  She drafted Hoshino Ruri to help her, as Hoshino knew even more about the ship than the captain herself did.  For Naze Nani Nadesico, Captain Misumaru wore a big fluffy white bunny suit, complete with ears and fake nose, and Hoshino was forced to wear bright orange overalls with a salmon T-shirt and a green beanie (sans propeller).  Literally translated, "naze nani" is "the how and why".  For another piece of Nadesico fandom on this, check out the Naze Nani strips on www (dot) megatokyo (dot) com. In them, Piro == Ruri, and Largo == Yurika.  NNN was a really good way, in my opinion, to avoid the boring monologues that always seem to occur in sci-fi anime.


	3. Ruri, Tetsusaiga Tetsusaiga, Ruri

**Author's Note**:  Footnotes at the end of the chapter.

******

There and Back Again 

Chapter Three:  Ruri, Tetsusaiga.  Tetsusaiga, Ruri.

            The transformed dog demon gingerly returned to the ground, and kneeled to allow his passenger to gracefully slide off his back.   With Yurika still staring at the youkai and her daughter, Tenkawa Akito walked forward and kneeled on the grass in front of his daughter.

            "Um, Ruri-chan, are you... okay...?" he managed to get out.

            She reached out and patted Akito on the head.  "Baka."

            The rest of afternoon tea was rather uneventful.  Conversation mostly centered on the history of the Shikon no Tama.  The conversation lasted longer than any of them realized, as they suddenly noticed that the sun was setting.  Sesshoumaru finished up most of the history as they gathered everything up and turned to go into the house.

            "In the end, Naraku was slain by the miko Kagome-sama.  The shards he held, however, were not enough to complete the jewel."

            "Did they ever find all of the pieces?" Yurika asked, still unsure whether she believed it all or not, but enjoying the telling all the same.  Sesshoumaru didn't answer, but merely looked at his son.

            Inuyasha took the cue.  "Please follow me."  They dropped off the dishes in the kitchen and walked through the house.  The five stopped before a set of heavy wooden doors, scarred and pitted with age.  There were several darker blotches on the doors that Yurika decided to tell herself was just a really bad paint job.

            "Before we continue any farther, let's get one thing straight.  Are we out to do Nergal's dirty work?  I'm sure as hell not."  Sesshoumaru noted just how much like his brother Inuyasha his son sometimes was.  Every once in a while, he truly earned that name.  Ruri for the first time saw a side of her acquaintance that was something other than calm and composed.

            "Nergal abused the power of the Chulip Crystals for its own profit.  They will do the same again."  Akito and Yurika nodded in agreement with their daughter's words.

            "Good."  The fierceness left the young youkai.  "To answer your question, Misumaru-san, yes, they did complete the jewel.  It was not until this morning, however, that my father revealed to me how the Shikon no Tama was finally completed."

            He opened the door and strode inside, the others following.  They were greeted by an immense collection of modern and ancient weapons.  In the center of the room was a glass case.  Inside were four small, pink shards.

            Ruri surmised their purpose quickly. "Jewel shards."

            "Indeed."  The young demon faced Ruri and addressed her directly, leaving his father and her parents out of the conversation.

            "You are familiar with Einstein's theories of space and time?"

            "Hai."

            "Then you can accept that an object can only occupy a single point in space, but multiple points in time."

            Hoshino paused for a second and then responded.  "Yes, I am standing here in the past moment, the present moment, and will continue exist in this space into a future moment."

            "And if five minutes from now I took you ten minutes into the past?"

            "Then there would be two Hoshino Ruri in existence."

            "Would that mean that there are now two Hoshino Ruri or that Hoshino Ruri exists in two points in space and time?"

            Hoshino simply didn't have an answer.  It was, in fact, her mother who spoke next.  "There's only one Ruri-Ruri!" [**1**]

            Hoshino stared at her mother as if she'd grown the proverbial second head.  "But Yurika-san!  That would mean... Einstein would be..."

            The younger dog demon placed a hand on Ruri's shoulder.  "Remember Ruri-san, that Einstein also said that it would be impossible to move faster than the speed of light, but it was later proved that by warping space you could travel in sublight, to yourself, but faster than light to the rest of the universe.  The Theory of Relativity never goes out the window, because _everything_ in this universe is relative to something else.  The simple fact is, we don't know.  No one has yet gone back in time and shaken their own hand."

            "Except, of course, for Bill and Ted."  The young family stared at the elder of their hosts, completely missing the reference he appeared to be making, while the demon's son slapped his forehead in frustration.  

            "You know, you never were the same after Kagome-obasan introduced you to THAT movie."

            "But it was most excellent," Sesshoumaru retorted, watching his son's eyes narrow to slits, demonfire flashing behind them.  "Say, Akito-san, you're a cook aren't you?  It's getting about dinnertime; care to be introduced to my Cuisinart collection?" [**2**]

             Akito and Yurika followed Sesshoumaru in the direction of the kitchen, Akito and the demon already discussing the merits of Cuisinart.  Hoshino watched them go and turned to where the younger Inutaishou was standing.  The moment of panic at being left alone subsided when she noticed Inuyasha standing before another piece in the collection.  She ran over to where he was standing, and looked up at the sword he was staring at.  It was an ancient weapon, with deep cuts and scars in its scabbard and hilt. 

            "This is Tetsusaiga [**3**], my uncle's sword," he said, to acknowledge her presence.  Ruri looked up behind the weapon, and saw a large painting of the man before her, except in bright red kimono [**4**] instead of the dark red kimono he was wearing now.

            "Vain, aren't you? Baka."

            "Huh?" Inuyasha responded, his reverie broken.  "Wha... oh.  Baka yourself.  That's Inuyasha-sama my uncle, not me. I can't even touch his sword."

            "Why not?"

            "Take it down off the wall."  He lifted Ruri so she could grasp the sword easily, then walked closer to the door.  Puzzled, she followed him.  When he reached an open area near the door, he turned back to her.  As he reached toward the sword, Ruri thought she felt it start to move towards her, as if it was repulsed by the demon.  When he actually touched the sword, lightning arced around him, sending his body into convulsions.  He released the hilt and sat down on the floor, panting.

            Ruri's eyes were wide with fright, but seeing that he was all right, stared at the sword in disbelief. "How..."

            "Inutaishou-sama put an enchantment on the sword... so that only someone with human blood... could actually use it."

            Ruri's expression changed from fright to amazement.  She slowly withdrew the blade from its home, expecting it to be as keen-edged and perfect like the... Tenseiga, had he called it?  What she saw was a far different blade, its metal scarred and pitted.  It was lighter than the sword she had earlier held, even though they were the same size.  When she finished drawing the sword, it sparked and then became engulfed in flames.  It was Inuyasha's turn to have his eyes widen in amazement.  The flames died away and Hoshino was left holding a sword longer than she was tall.

            She looked over at the demon still sitting on the floor. "What..."

            "You can use Tetsusaiga...." Inuyasha's voice was barely above a whisper, not having seen his uncle's sword in its full form since he had died.

            "My son, would you..."  Sesshoumaru's voice disappeared as well when he walked into the room.  Ruri looked from one to the other, unsure if she had done anything wrong.  Sesshoumaru managed to regain his senses enough to see the confusion on Ruri's face.  His son... well, he was once again reminded of his brother, particularly by the dazed expression the younger youkai was wearing now.

            "Hoshino-san, you have no cause for fear.  You have done nothing wrong.  It appears that the Tetsusaiga has responded to you.  It would seem that your complexion being similar to ours is not as much of a coincidence as anyone in this time might realize.  Congratulations on your new sword, hanyou."

            "Han.. you..." Ruri's puzzled face had to be replaced when she noticed Inuyasha's head jerk toward the window.  A moment later, she heard what he did.  A helicopter. "Nergal apparently does not trust you to simply hand over the ability to travel backwards in time."

            "Probably not.  They've had time to do a little more research and perhaps find out the true power of Shikon no Tama."  He picked up Tenseiga and placed in his belt, then paused.  He walked over and picked up a giant boomerang.  "Let's see if I can throw this thing half as well as Taijiya Sango [**5**] reputedly could.  Coming?  Don't forget your sword."

            Without thinking, Ruri grabbed the scabbard and replaced the sword, only afterwards realizing that it would have had to transform itself back to do that.

            The demon smiled.  "You learn quickly, Ruri-san."

******

**Footnotes**:

1.  Ruri-Ruri – this is something Yurika started doing without Ruri's permission back on the Nadesico when their relationship was more Captain/Comp Operator than Mother/Daughter.  It's a term of endearment that tends to confuse Ruri a bit, but she's gotten used to it.  Also, for those who don't know, Akito and Yurika are both only a few years older than Ruri – they're both 18 in the TV series, making them only between 21 and 23 in Prince of Darkness.  (There's a three year gap between the series and the movie, but I'm not 100% sure how much time passes in the series.)

2.  Sesshoumaru the Cook – yes, there are certain things about Sesshoumaru that are out of character for the series.  (Don't worry, I'm not done with having fun with him, either.)  I view it this way.  There are hundreds of years of personality development that he goes through that we don't get to see, so he has to change some things about himself to be able to survive as society in Japan evolves.

3.  Tetsusaiga – yes, I'm spelling it this way instead of Tessaiga.  Generally, manga is considered more authoritative than anime (at least for me), since the manga is generally done first and the anime will leave some parts of the manga out to make it fit better in a television timeframe.  If it helps, think of it this way – Tetsusaiga and Tessaiga are like plural "you" and y'all.  Edumacated people just say you, down har we say y'all.  Or something.

4.  Kimono – Kimono doesn't just mean the traditional women's robe which instantly makes any female character in anime kawaii (cute) and even more so if they already are kawaii.  It also refers to clothing in general.  Inuyasha does refer to his garments as "Fire rat fur kimono," if I remember correctly.  In breakdown, his pants (as well as Kikyou's) are called hakama. His "jacket", the part he throws over Kagome in the Yura of the Hair episode, is a haori, and his white "undershirt" is just called kimono.  (Remember also, early in the series in the episode where the jewel was shattered, one of Kagome's captors tugs her skirt and says "hey, look, her kimono's shorter than mine!")

5.  Taijiya Sango – Demon Slayer Sango.


	4. Choppers, Chulip Crystals, and Hiraikots

There and Back Again 

Chapter Four:  Choppers and Chulip Crystals and Hiraikotsu, oh my!

            "Mr. Inutaishou-san!  We'd like Hoshino's parents to come with us!"  The helicopter's loudspeaker thundered with Laymen's voice.  "We think they'd be safer in Nergal's care while you conduct research for us!"

            Two helicopters had joined the first.  One was lowering ropes, signaling Nergal's "finest" would soon be paying a visit.  Inuyasha cracked his knuckles like his uncle always did, and hefted the boomerang up behind him.

            "Get the Hell off my land, BASTARDS!  HIRAIKOTSU!" he roared, launching the weapon at the chopper which had the first of its occupants descending the ropes.  Ruri watched as the weapon sailed through the air, cleanly removing the rear blade, causing the craft to shudder violently.  As it returned, it sailed through the path of the blades, snapping one of them in two.  The blade harmlessly embedded itself in the wall off to their left, but the craft wasn't faring so well.  The demon leaped into the air, letting Hiraikotsu embed itself into the ground below.  The demon spun in the air as what looked like a glowing rope emerged from his hand.  He flicked the whip-like weapon into the belly of the craft, sending it reeling and making sure it landed outside the grounds.

            From where she was standing, she could see the stark panic on Laymen's face. She saw the second helicopter drop its ropes before Inuyasha did.

            "Inuyasha!"

            "Huh?"  The demon spun, letting the weapon return from whence it came.  He looked where she was pointing, and saw the second helicopter hurriedly disgorging its cargo, then rush off to avoid the same fate as its sister ship.  The first man that had hit ground opened fire on Inuyasha, who took three rounds to his sword arm.  Well, Ruri _thought_ he did.  "Rubber bullets.  Time for some fun."

            He took off and was already halfway across the large yard, the men starting to panic since he was apparently immune to their crowd control devices.  Had they not been panicking, they might have thought to throw some tear gas or fire some real bullets, but they didn't.  Instead, Tenseiga flashed through half of them in one pass, knocking them unconscious to the ground.

            A couple that he'd missed decided to charge the house as a last ditch effort to accomplish what they'd been paid to do.  For some reason, Ruri didn't even think.  She just pulled Tetsusaiga from its sheath, and without even waiting for its transformation flames to die down, sliced through the air towards them.   A vortex flew from the end of the sword, tearing up the lawn and sending the would-be attackers flying.  A well-timed leap onto the courtyard wall saved Inuyasha from the same fate.  He leaped again onto the remaining helicopter. Unfortunately, he happened to land on the skid next to Laymen's door.  Well, there _used_ to be a door there in the helicopter.  Inuyasha looked eye to eye with the terrified human, who was clutching his briefcase as if it might save him.  The youkai smiled and then ripped the door from its hinges.  He proceeded to rip Laymen out of the craft, seat and all, and toss him unceremoniously on the ground below.

            "So, pilot, you gonna get the hell outta here, or am I gonna have to sharpen my claws on you, too?"

            He leaped back to the ground as the chopper tucked tail and ran.  Inutaishou noticed that Laymen wasn't going anywhere any time soon.  A rather displeased-looking Hoshino held Tetsusaiga's point inches from his face.  Sheathing Tenseiga, he crossed his arms inside his sleeves.  Sauntering up to the two, he saw Ruri's face return to normal and the sword drop and flare back to its dormant state.  Ruri stopped staring at her captive and stared at the sword, trying to comprehend how she had just  done all that she did.  Inuyasha sniffed the air, catching a whiff of something unpleasant, which certainly wasn't bell peppers and beef.  Approaching Laymen, he saw where the odor was coming from.  Hoshino moved from in front of the upright helicopter seat to allow Inuyasha some intimidation room.  From the corner of his eye, he saw his father come out onto the porch, still carrying a skillet with sizzling beef inside of it.  He lazily flipped the meat with the skillet while watching the children, as if they were playing basketball with the neighbor's kids.

            Inuyasha propped a boot up on the chair next to the man's head.  "Did you know," he said, jerking a thumb to towards the porch, "That my pop's a helluva lot meaner than I am?"  He kicked the seat backwards, so that Laymen was now in the uncomfortable position of staring up at the evening sky.  Inuyasha squatted down by the man's head, lifting his right hand to where the scared man would have full view of it.  A green cloud formed around his hand as he prepared the poison claw technique his father had perfected and passed on to him.

            "So, did you think that you might scare us into making sure we stayed loyal to you? That maybe if you had Hoshino-san's parents under your 'protection' that we might come back with your prize sooner?"  The youkai let a drop of the poison fall onto the headrest beside the man's ear, so he could hear it eat through the metal and leather.  Whatever control the man had left of his bowels apparently disappeared, as the stench coming from the man intensified.  "If I remember correctly, we had agreed Nergal would stay off us while we worked on this project.  At least, that was the deal we both signed.  So, did you decide to screw us on the Chulip Crystals, too?"

            The man started violently shaking his head no, and tried to open the case he was still desperately clutching.  Inuyasha kindly helped him by ripping the latches off.  Popping open the case, he grabbed one of the blue crystals inside and tossed it to Ruri without taking his stare off of Laymen.  "This look like the real McCoy to you?"

            "Hai."

            "Well, looks like you get to live another day, Laymen."  The poison cloud disappeared and he patted the man's head with the formerly toxic paw.  "Try to screw us again and you may have to tango with Sesshoumaru-sama.  Especially if next time you happen get into his azaleas."

            "I... I I can go?"

            "Lemme show you to the door", Inuyasha replied, cracking his knuckles in the man's face the way his uncle always did.  The demon stood and grabbed the headrest of the former helicopter chair.

            "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo" was all that could be heard as the chair sailed with its occupant out into street. A few pieces of paper which had freed themselves from the briefcase floated back down to earth as the seat could be heard bouncing on the pavement outside.

            Inutaishou Inuyasha and Hoshino Ruri walked back towards the house in silence, the dog demon holding the Chulip Crystals from the briefcase in his hand and retrieving Hiraikotsu with the other.  As they approached, Sesshoumaru caught Tetsusaiga's sheath with his foot and flipped it to Hoshino.  

            "At least she missed the azaleas.  Dinner's almost ready, kids." Sesshoumaru turned and headed back into the house.

******


	5. Sweet Soul Sister

**Author's Note**:  Footnotes are at the end of the chapter.

******

There and Back Again 

Chapter Five:  Sweet Soul Sister

            "Inu-san."

            "Nani?" [**1**]

            "About... what you were asking me earlier... about Einstein?"

            "Yeah.  Well, Otou-san and I think that the Shikon no Tama only exists at one point in both space and time."

            Ruri thought for a second.  "That would mean that it can be carried forward and backward in time, but if we carried a jewel shard back in time, it could not meet itself."

            "That's what we think, at least.  After the miko Kikyou-sama died, the Shikon no Tama completely disappeared out of existence until it reappeared in the reincarnated form of Kikyou-sama, Kagome-sama.  In the past several hundred years, Otou-san, and more recently I, haven't been able to find any more jewel shards than those four, and the last one we acquired only recently.  To say it only exists in one point in both space and time doesn't make total sense, but it's closer than any other explanation we've been able to find in our studies."

            They walked back into the museum/armory and placed the Chulip Crystals in a case near the Shikon shards.  As he replaced Hiraikotsu to its home, he paused to remove its carrying ribbon.  He handed it to Hoshino, who stared at him as if he were crazy.

            "What?  You can't carry Tetsusaiga on your waist, you're still too short.  I'll show you how to tie it, if that's your problem." [**2**]

            Sesshoumaru, who'd been listening from the doorway, tossed his son a ribbon from somewhere in his garments.  He began to show Hoshino how to tie the ribbon around the scabbard so that she could carry the sword across her back.

            "So any human could pick this sword up and do what I just did, but demons cannot?" she asked as she began lacing knots.

            "Nope," the youkai responded, lacing his father's ribbon around Tenseiga's scabbard so she could follow the knots.  "If your mother or father picked it up, it'd probably just remain a regular sword.  Kagome-obasan never transformed the Tetsusaiga.  Remember, the sword was forged _for_ Inuyasha-sama.  That means the bearer must have some demon blood in him, or her."

            Ruri's eyes widened as he said that.  "You mean..."

            "Why do you think Father called you 'hanyou'?" Inuyasha replied, finishing the last knot and laying his sword on the floor next to Ruri for her to finish hers by.  He stood and walked down the wall of weapons.  "You'll have every right to be angry with Father and me for doing this, but we've examined your DNA, as well as that of Yurika-san and Akito-san.  We were interested in the Chulips from the time we first heard about them, because we wondered if they were in any way connected to Kagome-obasan's well.  Nergal's contacting me was a rather opportune coincidence."  He selected a wakizashi [**3**] from the wall and carried it back to join Hoshino where she was sitting.

            "We compared the DNA of Yurika-san and Akito-san to that of 'normal' humans and that of Kagome-obasan, to see if we could find out anything interesting.  After seeing you in the Miss Nadesico fiasco, our curiosity was piqued so we studied your DNA as well."  He wisely decided to ignore the reddening in her face at mentioning the event.

            "You share DNA fragments with Father and me.  Our guess is they were by products of the gene tampering done to you as an embryo.  That's where you receive your youkai blood.  There are several fragments not found in normal humans that are found in your adoptive parents, Kagome-obasan, and the three of us.  The more pronounced this particular fragment is, the more propensity you have towards personally warping space-time."

            Sesshoumaru reappeared at the door again.  "Dinner is prepared.  Join us whenever you please."

            Hoshino quickly secured the last knot and went to stand up.  Inuyasha grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

            "Ruri-chan, I intend to go to Sengoku Jidai to return these four shards to Inuyasha.  After they are returned, I do not know if I will be come trapped in that era.  That is what I needed the CC's for - as a last ditch effort to return.  It was Nergal's idea that you be assigned to their 'project'.  Otou-san and I never had any intention of involving you or your family in this.  We, and I, will not force you to come with me.  I will not deny your presence in this, but I neither demand it nor even ask it of you."

            Hoshino smiled, "I want to see how the story ends, baka."

            Inuyasha returned the smile and released her arm.  "I have one more thing to say," he said as they rose to go to the dining room.  "You remember that Father said that Kagome-obasan was the reincarnation of the miko Kikyou-sama?"

            "Hai."

            "From what I've seen today, you may be the reincarnation of Inuyasha-sama.  And no genetic tampering could cause that.  Just as Kagome-obasan could call upon powers that Kikyou-sama held without thinking about it, so you've tapped into Inuyasha's abilities with Tetsusaiga without even being told what they are."

            He tucked the wakizashi into his belt as they stepped into the dining room.  "Oh, and it's Kaze no Kizu."

            "What is?"

            "The attack you used."

******

            Dinner passed rather uneventfully.   Akito and Yurika took their daughter's decision to accompany her strange friend into the past much better than normal parents would have.  But then, Inuyasha reflected that he'd heard Hoshino was actually the one who brought everyone back onto the Nadesico for its mutiny, so in retrospect no reaction other than an expected amount of mother's worry could be expected.

            After dinner, Inuyasha presented the wakizashi to Ruri. "Tetsusaiga's yours, but it's still as big as you are.  This sword can't perform anything like Kaze no Kizu, but it's easier to use and no less dangerous."

            Sesshoumaru stood behind his son.  "It is called The Hanyou's Protector.  It has the ability to bring out your youkai blood for you to use, without having the blood cloud your mind the way it normally will.  That does not mean it makes bringing out youkai blood safe, but it makes it manageable for one such as yourself who is already in control of her mind."

            The elder demon placed a hand on his son's shoulder.  "Tomorrow you will train with my son.  I lived through Sengoku Jidai, and it was a very dangerous era.  You must know how to defend yourself apart from the strength of either Inuyasha.  The two of you may leave for the past at any time after you have trained a full day."

             Akito and Yurika returned to the dining room from taking dishes into the kitchen in time to hear the last part.  A few more minutes of conversation and the group began to separate to prepare for bed.

            "Oh!  Wait!" Yurika cried.  "Sesshoumaru-sama never told us if they ever recovered all of the jewel fragments!"

            Akito, thinking he knew the answer, rubbed Yurika's head playfully.  "How could they have all of the shards if four are sitting in the other room?"

            "Actually," Inuyasha replied, "They will.  You forget that in this feudal fairy tale, events don't occur in order."

            The two stared at the youkai.

            "Baka."

            They stared at their daughter.

            "What do you think we're going back for?"

******

**Footnotes**:

1.  Nani – what?

2.  Tying something to a sword – I don't claim to understand this and don't know how to tie it, but there is a particular way which you tie a carrying strap to a scabbard.  Japanese sword-smithing is far more of an art form than Western.  Thus, a lot of traditions have evolved around it, including the proper way to tie something to a sheath.

3.  Wakizashi – A Japanese short sword.  Japanese blades, are generally carried on your off-side (non sword-arm) and with the edge pointing up.  Thus, the sword curves downwards towards the ground.  This makes it almost impossible to draw while sitting down.  A Katana (such as Tenseiga) also has one other problem.  99% of all strikes with a Katana are slashing moves (just look at how much space it takes Kenshin or Inuyasha to swing their weapon even when they don't go flying through the air).  Thus the wakizashi evolved as a way for samurai to remain effectively armed indoors.


	6. Misumaru Yurika Meets Mexican Rice

**Author's Note**:  Footnotes are at the end of the chapter.

******

There and Back Again 

Chapter Six:  Misumaru Yurika meets Mexican Rice

The next day could only be described as brutal.  By the end of the day, even Sesshoumaru in his centuries of experience couldn't tell who had ended up having the worst day.  Guts per pound went to Ruri for her tenacity alone.  Inuyasha was by no means going easy on the girl, because he wasn't exactly sure how much she was going to be facing.  At the same time, he forced her to attack him with full strength, since any battle they fought in Sengoku Jidai would mean life and death for both of them.  Thus, there were several Kaze no Kizu he barely escaped from.  For his part, he was using Tenseiga on the right and a shinai [**1**] on the left, which forced Ruri to respond to the most possible attacks while shielding her from any deadly attacks.  At the same time, any time he purposefully missed she screamed at him, leaving him little choice but to leave a few deep bruises when she failed to dodge.  She still wasn't good at seeing the wind scar, yet Inuyasha's spirit was definitely with her as she could always hit it even when she couldn't see it.  This sudden onslaught of power she'd never known frightened Ruri, though no one but her sparring partner could see it.  She saw his fear as well, for when she used Hanyou's Protector with Tetsusaiga, Inuyasha knew even his father might not survive a full attack from it. [**2**]

            After eight straight hours starting at six that morning, Akito had lost count of the number of "baka" and "baka yourself" that had flown across the field.  He'd never attempted to count the "Shit"s emanating from both opponents.  Yurika went inside after a few minutes of watching the two, but Akito managed to stay outside for almost the entire day.  Snacks set out at 10 that morning were still there, minus a few handfuls of nuts Akito took.  The two combatants only seemed to want to stop for water.  During the brief lulls in clashing swords, the youkai crammed the hanyou with errata that might be necessary.

            Mid-afternoon Sesshoumaru joined Akito on the grass.  Hoshino's instructor was trying to show her some of the elements of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.

            "Inuyasha sometimes has more in common with his uncle than his father," Sesshoumaru said, wincing after a particularly colorful string from his son after Hoshino completely misread his attack.

            "BAKA!"

            "BAKA YOURSELF!"

            Akito smiled, "Ruri-chan has far from fragile ears.  Besides, you can tell they already think of themselves as brother and sister."

            "Indeed.  She is becoming quite good."  It was the first thing Jaken had said all day from his spot on the grass a few feet behind Akito.

            "Er, Sesshoumaru-sama, I know Yurika-san is being very brave about all this, but how much danger will they really be in?"

            "From the day he could hold a sword, I have trained my son to be able to fight at my level.  Yes, they will be in grave danger.  However, take heart, young friend, the weakness towards humans of my father Inutaishou-sama is a part of our bloodline.  Inuyasha was the son of a human woman, and he protected Kikyou-sama until Naraku caused her to betray him.  He protected Kagome-sama until the day she died.  I myself have sheltered a human child, and became as a father to her.  My son will protect your daughter to the death.  And those deaths will not be his own, I assure you."

            Sesshoumaru rose from the ground.  "They shall end soon.  I will begin preparing the meal."

            Akito chose to linger for a few minutes before joining Sesshoumaru in the kitchen.

            "Jaken-san?" he started, turning to face the toad.

            "Hai, Akito-san?"

            "Something didn't make a lot of sense just then, but I didn't want to question Sesshoumaru-sama about it."

            Jaken raised a hand to stop Akito from speaking.  "Sesshoumaru-sama makes few mistakes.  Yet once in Sengoku Jidai, when Sesshoumaru-sama and Inuyasha-sama were at odds, Sesshoumaru-sama came across someone resembling his half-brother.  He attacked the stranger and they battled fiercely.  I could not hear all the words they exchanged, but suddenly each broke off their attack, and the two went their separate ways.  Traveling with this stranger was a girl, slightly older than Rin-san was at the time, who had white hair and carried a battered sword on her back."

            Akito's eyes widened but he said nothing.

******

            That evening dinner was an eating contest between Hoshino Ruri on one side of the table and Inutaishou Inuyasha on the other.  The fathers at the table ate normally, but Misumaru Yurika didn't find the dinner too appetizing.

            "Um, why is my rice... orange?"

            Inuyasha paused long enough to explain.  "This is Mexican food... enchiladas, tacos, burritos, taquitos, guacamole, queso, salsa, pico de gallo, tamales, refritos, and Mexican rice," he said, pointing out the dishes.

            "But why so much of everything else and so little rice?  And why beans as a course not dessert?" Yurika retorted.

            "Well, beans, corn and wheat grow much better in the Americas than rice does, so their dishes tend to have much more of those in it," Akito said gently.

            "Exactly," Inuyasha snorted.  He realized he was losing to Ruri and dove back into his tamales.

            "Mexican food is also much 'heavier' than Japanese meals.  In Mexico they tend to have two hours for lunch - part for eating, and part for dozing for a while to recover from eating.  With as much energy as our children put out today, I thought it might be wise to put forth a meal that helped them rest tonight," Sesshoumaru retorted, a bite of enchilada halfway to his mouth.

            Sesshoumaru's plan was partly successful.  The food and the encroaching darkness caused the trainer and trainee to stay inside.  However, Inuyasha broke out the x86 emulator that he had been playing with, and he and Ruri spent the better part of the evening gibbing each other with old versions of Quake and Unreal on the house computer.  Akito tried to join them, but quickly got dizzy and was forced to quit.  Sesshoumaru didn't even try, knowing from watching his son in the past that those games would be rather difficult for someone with only one arm.

******

            Ruri woke late the next morning, still feeling slightly dizzy from the final few rocket-laden rounds the night before.  Hearing the clashing of weapons, she looked out the window of the room she'd been given to see father and son sparring with each other on the lawn.  Turning back to the room, she saw that her mother had left a bright red suit folded by her bed.

            "Ruri-Ruri,

            Sesshoumaru-sama said this was the fire-something robe that Inuyasha-sama

            always wore, and that I should alter it to fit you so you could wear it as

            protection in Sengoku Jidai."

            It was signed with the normal flourishes her mother normally put on things.  Ruri pulled on the robe, expecting it to be rough and uncomfortable.  To the contrary, it was quite soft and smelled slightly of Inu-kun, as she had taken to calling him.

            By the time Hoshino made it downstairs, father and son had finished their match and were drinking tea on the porch.  

            "Where did my parents go?"

            The question was simple and direct, and Sesshoumaru gave a simple and direct answer.  "Your mother wished to go shopping, so they went into town.  I sent Jaken-sama with them as guardian if Nergal decided to try something."

            "Do you think they would after what Inu-kun did?"

            "Keh.  They're still watching us now.  They're frightened though.  I can smell their fear from here."

            Sesshoumaru rose and collected Toukijin.  "You two should begin packing.  I contacted Higurashi yesterday, and he will be expecting you at the shrine tomorrow."

            " Hai, Otou-san." [**3**]

******

            The three shoppers returned hours later to find the driveway and garage strewn with camping gear and weapons.

            "Too bad I don't think I could get the Yamaha back with us," Inuyasha whined.

            "That steel horse is the DEVIL!" Jaken screamed at him as he walked towards the white hairs.

            "Shut up, Jaken-baka."  Inuyasha cracked his knuckles.  "You really have no taste for adventure, do you?"

            Akito cut in before Jaken could receive some fresh lumps.  "So, Sesshoumaru-sama said you guys would try to leave tomorrow.  Do you want us to drive you over there?"

            "Nah, we'll have to walk all over medieval Japan with this stuff, I don't think there'll be a problem with going a couple of miles with it.  Besides," his eyes darkened, "I'd rather not announce we're leaving if we can avoid it."

******

**Footnotes**:

1.  Shinai – If you've seen any Rurouni Kenshin, this is the weapon Yahiko carries, or, if you've ever seen Kendo, this is the weapon used in it.  A traditional shinai is four strips of bamboo lashed together.  It has a lot of give to it and is very difficult cause any injury with other than heavy bruises.  I've heard that you can get them made from carbon fiber these days, but I haven't come across one yet.  If somebody does know where to get carbon fiber shinai, lemme know. ^_^

2.  I don't know if it's necessary to point this out or not, but I will in case it causes some confusion.  One of the things Tetsusaiga is designed to do is keep youkai blood in check by subduing it.  Pairing it with a weapon designed to bring out youkai blood and keep it in check, as I see it, would have one of two results.  One – the two would neutralize each other, or two – the two would magnify each other.  Since such weapons don't exist and I have no way to test any theory on the matter, I'll just go with what I think is best for the story.

3.  Otou-san - Father


	7. Ruri Takes the Red Pill

**Author's Note**:  Footnotes are at the end of the chapter.

******

There and Back Again 

Chapter Seven:  Ruri Takes the Red Pill

            The next morning, the Akito's and Yurika's car pulled out of the driveway with two people in the backseat, both with white hair.  Well, if the watchers had been paying attention they'd have realized it was one person and one box with a wig-wearing melon on top, as well as the fact that the other person in the back seat was the elder Inutaishou, not the younger.  They radioed their boss that the target was moving and followed them quickly.  Unfortunately, they were rather loud in following the car, and it was easy for Inuyasha to tell that their shadow had disappeared.  His boot kicked the starter and the Yamaha darted out and headed the opposite direction the parents had gone, leaving Jaken choking on the dirt bike's exhaust fumes.

******

            The shadows didn't realize they'd been had when the car drove back into the driveway.  They had an inkling something was up when Tenkawa and Misumaru didn't wait for their daughter to exit the car, and just headed into the house.  They were outright suspicious when it was Sesshoumaru who got out of the passenger side instead of Inuyasha.  But they didn't figure everything out until Sesshoumaru opened the rear driver's door, pulled out "Ruri's" head and took a large bite out of it, then went back inside.  He did, however, pause before entering the house to chunk the melon at the two men shadowing the house, which he followed with an American-style single-finger salute.  He then ducked into the house, closing the garage door on his way in.

******

            For Hoshino to say that Inuyasha drove like a demon would be accurate except for the fact that he was indeed a demon.  Thankfully, though, they'd arrived at their destination, the shrine of the Shikon no Tama and ancestral home of the Higurashi family.  A teenager opened the door at their knock.

            "Inuyasha-san!  Father is expecting you!"  Higurashi's eldest son reminded the youkai greatly of the pictures he'd seen of Kagome-obasan's brother at that age.  Of course, considering how much he looked like his uncle that shouldn't be surprising.

            The elder Higurashi greeted the young Inutaishou warmly.

            "So, your father tells me that you're going to try to use the well to get back to Sengoku Jidai, hai?"

            "Actually, the Goshinboku."  This caused a shocked look from the priest. 

            "You can't go through a tree though."                                                      

            "But the well has a very definite flow of time.  Every minute that passed in miko Kagome's time passed in Sengoku Jidai.  If that remains true, it would get us either halfway past or halfway to whichever time we wanted."  That made sense in Hoshino's mind.

            "I suppose that's true.  I keep forgetting you're older than I am and not my son's age, you know.  And I suppose this young lady is the Hoshino Ruri your father mentioned."

            "Hai," Hoshino said, bowing slightly.

            "Will the two of you at least stay for tea?" the monk said, returning the bow.

            "Thank you for you invitation, but Nergal will already be aware of our deceit.  We must act quickly," Hoshino responded.

            The two walked over to  the Goshinboku and the graves of Kagome and Inuyasha, which currently was also the perch for a man who appeared to be twenty-something years old by Ruri's estimation.

            "Oi, Shippou, still hanging around here, huh?"

            "Hai.  Still hard for me to leave Kagome's side.  I still think of her as 'kaa-san.'" [**1**]

            "But Kagome-sama wanted you to live your own life once you were old enough to leave her care.  Live for the future she helped create instead of living in the past."

            The man gracefully leaped out of the tree to stand before the youkai.  "You're a fine one to talk dog-boy.  I've got a half century on you, respect your elders," he stated, crossing his arms.

            Hoshino walked in between Inuyasha and the man and stood staring into Shippou's face.  "So you are youkai as well?"

            "Yeah, and what of it?"

            Inuyasha laughed.  "I may have got his name, but she got his soul, so you make damn sure you don't piss her off."

            "Her?  Inuyasha?" the kitsune smirked down at the girl.  He wasn't fast enough to block the wakizashi tsuka that Ruri rammed into his hip.  "OOOF!"  [**2**]

            "Baka."

            "Told you so.  Besides.  If you go back in time with us, I guarantee you'll meet yourself.  That can't happen."

            "So, your going back in time is fine, but if I went it wouldn't be?"

            "No, my going back in time _isn't_ fine, and I'm _not_ happy with it, and your going back would be even worse, baka-kitsune.  The point here is to make sure that history happens as it apparently was meant to be."

            "So fight me, baka-inu.  I win, I go back in time with you. You win, I stay here."

            "Fine," the dog demon replied, thumbing loose one of the two swords he was carrying.  "Just remember, you couldn't block Hoshino-san, what makes you think you could block me?"

            "Heh, the lesson is, get in the first shot," the fox demon retorted, leaping into the air.  "Kitsune-b – oof!"

            Inuyasha had moved under Shippou the moment he began to form foxfire, and leaped up behind him and tapped him on the back of the skull with his boot.  Shippou collided rather hard with the ground, his opponent landing a few feet away.  Ruri walked up to him and leaned over his face.  "Boot to the head."

            Inuyasha walked up to the tree, followed by Ruri.  From one sleeve he produced a jewel shard, from the other, a Chulip Crystal.

            "You have great faith this will work."

            "This was the tree which my uncle was bound to for fifty years, and through this tree miko Kagome-obasan talked with Inuyasha-sama once when they were forcefully separated in different times.  These 'time trees', as Kagome-obasan said Kaede-sama called them, exist apart from the fabric of time.  Besides, history's already been written on this, hasn't it?"

            "Baka."

            "Baka yourself."  With that, he jammed the shard into the crystal.  The crystal glowed with contact to the shard.

            "Oi, Higurashi-san, have Shippou-baka hide my bike when he wakes up."

            "Hai."

            The two travelers shouldered their packs.  Ruri grabbed her sempai's hand, and, with his free hand, Inuyasha placed the combined crystal against the tree.  The fabric of space itself bent around his hand, and they walked into the tree--

            --And out the other side.  Inuyasha looked down at his hand, still holding the combined crystal, now blackened.  As he watched, the black crumbled away to nothingness, leaving only the Shikon no Kakera.

            "Baka.  We're not in Sengoku Jidai.  We're standing on pavement, there's the shed, the fence, the-- umf"  Ruri was suddenly hoisted by the demon who then darted behind the nearest shed.

            "Souta!  Pick up the pace while Kagome's in the warring states era!  You've got a lot more chores to do around the shrine!"

            Ruri peered around the youkai's shoulder to see an older man in traditional garb sweeping the ground clear of falling leaves.  A young boy appeared to be hampering the process as much as helping it.

            "Who's that?" She whispered, "Higurashi's father and youngest son?"

            The demon shook his head.  "Kagome-obasan's grandfather and younger brother Souta.  Baka yourself - we're now in the late 20th century, maybe early 21st."

"So, why are we hiding?"

Inuyasha shrugged.  "History dictates," he stated flatly, sticking out his tongue.  "Ain't the past a bitch?  Besides.  They'd either go running off in fear or mistake me for Inuyasha-sama."

            "Hai.  How long do we wait?"

            "As long as it takes for them to finish and give us a chance to get over to the well."

            They were forced to wait another full fifteen minutes, each one marked by constant fear of being spotted by one of Higurashi's relatives.  The pair finally finished their yard-work and retreated inside.  Youkai and hanyou cautiously crossed the courtyard to the Bone Eater's Well.  They stood on the edge of the well staring at each other.  Ruri was obviously having doubts.  The youkai offered his hand to the hanyou.  Taking it, she jumped in, dragging the youkai with her.

******

**Footnotes**:

1.  Kaa-san - mother

2.  Tsuka – "hilt", or even more loosely translated "handgrip".  


	8. An F'ing Centipede

**Author's Note**:  Footnotes are at the end of the chapter.

******

There and Back Again 

Chapter Eight:  A F'ing Centipede

            Looking up, they saw open sky above them.  Hoshino started to say something, but a look from her senpai silenced her.  After a few seconds of listening and smelling, Inuyasha was satisfied no one was around. He picked up Hoshino and leaped out of the well to the ground above.

            "Shit."

            "What?"

            "Look.  It just rained.  Figures that the Fates don't want to make it easy on us."  Reading Ruri's eyebrows, Inuyasha explained, "I'd hoped to follow their trail then go around in front of them and 'accidentally' run into them on the road.  Looks like it won't be so easy."

            "So what do we do now baka-senpai?" [**1**]

            "Visit Kaede-sama and hope we don't freak everyone out."

            As they walked, Ruri picked her traveling companion's brain on any errata she didn't get yet.

            "So, if you know where the village is, why don't you know where your uncle is going?"

            "Keh, that one's easy.  The village is, obviously, near the bone-eater's well and the Goshinboku.  My aunt and uncle visited the miko there often, so they could easily describe where it was.  However, when it comes to where they're going, they could only describe in terms of days of travel, and that always varied - sometimes they all traveled together on foot, sometimes Inuyasha-sama carried Kagome-obasan."

            "Ah."  She pointed at Tenseiga.  "How do swords get different powers?"

            "You're full of easy ones today, aren't you?  If you combine a Hydrogen atom with two Oxygen atoms, what do you get?"

            "Water."

            "But if you add a Sulfur atom to it?"

            "An acid."

            "Bingo.  On the molecular level, benign atoms combine in different ways - some remain benign, some have devastating results.  Same thing on a macro level.  A sword can inherit the powers of the items used to make it."

            "And the total is greater than the sum of the parts."

            "Exactly.  Toukijin, father's sword, was forged from the fang of a demon slain by Inuyasha-sama.  The sword itself wishes to exact revenge on Inuyasha-sama, and would posses any lesser being, youkai, hanyou, or human, who tried to use it."

            "Final question.  You did not carry that second sword before."

            "Tenseiga can neither kill nor maim.  For your defense, I need to carry a sword that can cause permanent injury if need be.  This sword isn't imbued with any magical powers, other than it's forged from a new titanium variant instead of normal steel. It's far stronger, lighter, and flexible than a normal sword. Besides... " the youkai paused, sniffing the air.  Ruri stared up at him.  "Ruri-chan.  Ever read Starship Troopers or see its movie?"

            "Hai."

            "'Remember your training, and you will come back alive.'"  He tossed his pack and traveling cloak at the nearest tree; Ruri chose to carry hers there.  The youkai loosed the katana in its sheath.

            Ruri heard a crashing noise from across the clearing.  She gripped Hanyou's Protector tightly, hoping to not have to use it.  A large hump with protrusions appeared above the trees.  The protrusions turned out to be arms and legs.

            "A centipede.  How many fucking shits like you were there in this time?"  The youkai stepped into the middle of the clearing.

            "How dare you confuse me with any mere centipede demon!  I am endowed with the power of the Shikon no Tama!"

            "Well, then you'll just make my uncle's gift a little sweeter!"  Inuyasha the younger retorted, neatly dancing around the centipede's stabs at him.

            The lesser demon stopped mid attack and looked over at Ruri.  "Yummy... a little hanyou.  You'll make a tasty snack before I dispense with your father...mmmm... where's your mother child?  I'll bet ssssshe's tasssty tooooo...."

            The youkai raced towards his charge, causing as much damage with the katana as he could without slowing down.  "RURI!"

            The young girl's eyes flashed fire as she removed Hanyou's Protector from its sheath.  Once the small blade was in her hands, the fire consumed her eyes changing them to the bright red the youkai had yet to see in his own eyes and had only seen in his father's eyes once.  The centipede stopped mid-attack to enjoy the show thinking her prey an easy kill, the jewel shard making it blind to the debilitating cuts it was taking on its side.

            Ruri's blade pointed square at face of the beast.  "He is my friend and senpai, but HE.  IS.  NOT.  MY.  FATHER!" 

            With the last syllable she lunged up at the beast, burying Hanyou's Protector in its forehead.  Inuyasha saw the jewel shard fly out the back of its head.  He followed her lead, jumping lower at the beast, a single stroke of the katana severing the head.  He saw Ruri dislodge the blade and leap to safety, catching the jewel shard on her way down.  The youkai landed a few feet from her, looking around to make sure the felled beast was really down.

            Ruri sheathed her blade as the youkai approached her.  As he knelt before her, he saw the fire began to go out from her eyes.  She held out a clenched fist towards him.  As he opened and held the box containing the shards before her, she slowly opened her hand to let it fall into the container.

            "Ruri-chan, are you okay?"  He watched her slowly nod yes.

            "Inu-kun, is this the power of Shikon no Tama?"

            "Hai."

            "I think I saw that thing go this way Kaede-sama!"  Thundering hooves slowly approached them where they were.  No way to disguise who they were now.

            "Senpai..."

            Her now-former mentor smiled.  "You can drop the senpai, I think you passed the test.  You fought well, I'm just sorry it had to be so soon."

            "Inuyasha!" Miko Kaede called, mistaking him for his uncle.  "Is Kagome-sama with you?  I must speak with ye both at once!"

            The youkai stood and turned to face the priestess.  He bowed low before her.  Unsure of what to do, Ruri followed her friend's lead.

            "I fear, Kaede-sama, that you have mistaken me for another, though I am honored at the mistake."

            Ruri sat back up and blinked at her friend, shocked that he spoke the old High Japanese so fluently, especially, after, well, the fucking centipede.  She watched as the miko dismounted her horse.

            "Either the hanyou is possessed by a youkai, or thou art as thou say.  Thus I ask of ye, who be thee?"

            The youkai raised himself and addressed her standing.  "My name is indeed Inuyasha, Inutaishou Inuyasha, and this is Hoshino Ruri, and we seek conference with thee, Kaede-sama."

            "Very well, need we provide thee transportation?"

            "Nay, Kaede-sama."  As the horses rounded and thundered back towards the village, Inutaishou gathered the belongings left under the tree onto his shoulder.

            "Inu-kun no baka.  We can't catch up with horses."

            "Ruri-chan no baka.  A human couldn't catch up with a horse, but since when am I human?" he retorted, offering his free shoulder.  Once she was settled there, he bolted after the horses, easily catching up with them.

******

            "So, thou art from the future of Kagome?  And thou art the son of Inuyasha's half-brother Sesshoumaru?"

            The youkai nodded over his food.  He sipped from his stew bowl before continuing.  "Exactly.  We had four, now five, shards to give to Kagome and Inuyasha.  We would like to complete our task here and return to our own time."

            "Why is that, child?"

            The youkai shifted uncomfortably on the floor.  Ruri's compulsion for directness overcame her tact.

            "Inu-kun feels that our presence here is not natural, and fears altering the course of history."

            "Indeed, does he? Aye, I cannot deny that such has troubled me as well.  I was raised that our future is not set in stone, but after dealing with someone casually coming from the future into what she considers the past... it speaks to me that all of time has been etched upon stone.  Though we make decisions every day, it would seem that all that we do is already known."

            The youkai relaxed at hearing this from someone who'd never followed the debates of the physics professors.

            "Indeed.  That is one theory, and one which my mind wished to believe but could not.  My main concern is that such is not the case, that my very existence in this time might have catastrophic effects on the course of history."

            "Yet ye know that the child Kagome's presence here doesn't seem to have altered time very much.  Do _ye remember any such events occurring?"_

            "There is one of the flies in the ointment.  I wouldn't.  I was not born until after the events with Kagome and the Jewel.  My father does not count, either, having lived through this time.  I never knew Aunt Kagome's mother or grandfather to say if they noticed any changes, other than the event with the time trees.  At the same time, Kagome-sama does not know the outcome of her actions as well as I do.  If it is possible to change the course of history, then I am in a far better position than she to do that.

            "However, in the interest of time I should change the subject.  You were seeking out Kagome-obasan and Inuyasha-sama.  What have you learned?"

            "They had decided to travel to the northeast this time in search of Naraku.  Since they were last here, we have seen many demons going towards the southeast.  At first, I thought that they were on the correct path; that these were demons that were fleeing from the possibility of being joined to Onigumo."

            "Yet from all of the stories I was told as a child, the other demons did not seem to know that they were being pulled into Naraku.  They were deluded by him into thinking that they would be given power by him.  Instead, they were giving power to him."

            The old woman's eyes narrowed slightly.  "Exactly."

            "Very well.  Hoshino and I will leave immediately to try to catch up with Inuyasha-sama and Kagome-obasan to divert their path."  With that, the two travelers gathered their things, threw their cloaks around themselves, and took their leave of miko Kaede.

******

**Footnotes**:

1.  Senpai – If you're a Love Hina fan and/or Shinobu fan you can probably skip this footnote.  Most people are familiar with the honorific "sensei" meaning teacher, but I'm not sure how familiar everyone is with the concept of "senpai".  "Senpai" is akin to "mentor", in the sense that it's something a student will call an older student who takes them under their wing, so to speak.  


	9. Hanyou and Crew Finally Show Up

There and Back Again 

Chapter Nine:  Hanyou and Crew Finally Show Up

            "Well, Inuyasha, you appear to have the strongest feelings about this, please share you opinions on the matter."  The monk leaned against a tree, shutting his brain from the stream of "logic" he knew was about to come from their resident hanyou.  Instead, he focused his attention towards the most attractive woman seated in the grass nearby who was polishing her weapon.

            "NARAKU is our goal here!  I don't CARE what's going on in your own time!  Killing Naraku and recovering the jewel shards are more important than ANYTHING in your time, Bi...

            "OSUWARI!"  Kagome was severely pissed.  The monk noted that Inuyasha was about two inches below ground level, so it was far from the worst sit he'd ever received.  Kagome wasn't admitting to anyone, well, anyone but Sango-chan, that she had to get back for a date with Hojo. "I TOLD you that I wanted to be back by Saturday, AND that I had things I've been putting off I need to do because SOMEONE was hurrying me to come back.  Just who could THAT have been? ANSWER ME!"

            "Mmm mmurmf mm mmr mm mmrt MMMRMMF!"

            "WHAT did you say?"

            Deciding to be purely evil for once and praying Buddha would forgive him, the monk piped up, "I believe Inuyasha was trying to say 'my mouth is full of dirt, bitch.' OW!"

            "Oh YEAH? OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI! OSUWARI!"

            Miroku rubbed the newly sprouted lump on his head and looked over to see a glaring Sango, who was tossing and catching another rock as perfectly formed as she-- "OW!"

            "And _that's_ for your last thought, Houshi-sama"

            "Damn, women really are psychic."

            "WHAT WAS THAT???"

            "Uh, nothing Kagome-sama.  OW! Saaaannngo!"

            Shippou had wisely chosen to simply sit on a warm rock in the sun with Kirara and watch the fireworks while slurping on hard candy.  He didn't know what the big deal was about these "movies" he'd overheard Kagome discuss with Sango, because nothing could be as entertaining as the two couples before him.  By his estimation, he had about five more minutes of good, solid lounging ahead of him while the argument finished itself up.  They'd already gotten past "single osuwari" and the "multiple osuwari" stages, and Sango had now gone through three rocks, so about two more rocks and perhaps a final osuwari were left in the match.

            Inuyasha picked his head up out of the hole he'd just dug and spat the dirt out of his mouth.  "FINE.  We'll ALL walk you back to the well, and then we'll wait for you to finish whatever it is that's more important than Naraku and Jewel Shards!"

            "Humph."

            Ooo, the Kagome-nose-in-the-air-wheeling-bicycle stage, looks like the fight was over. Darn.  Sango didn't even get to use the final couple of rocks.  Shippou and Kirara hopped off the rock and started helping gather up camp for the walk back.  Oh well, it just meant he'd get to have some of Grandma Kaede's stew and that Kagome would be bringing back some candy for him.

******

            Dusk was beginning to settle in, and it was time the travelers started looking for a good place to pitch camp.  It never dawned on Ruri just how many people lived in Japan in their time until they had walked for several hours and only saw a few squirrels and birds.  She had spent the past hour seated on her guardian's shoulder.  They'd covered more ground while she was on his shoulder, but she could tell even the youkai was beginning to show a desire to stop for the day.  The youkai suddenly stopped and stood very still.  Ruri looked down at him, wondering why he'd stopped.  This didn't seem like a good place to spend the night.  The ground was littered with rocks.

            "Otou-san."

            The fact that Ruri didn't smell anything didn't surprise her.  She was hanyou by virtue of DNA only, and she knew it.  She wasn't surprised she didn't have the inu-youkai's increased sense of smell.  She hopped down off his shoulder and seated herself on one of the larger rocks in the field.  She saw on the far side of the clearing her guardian's father and Jaken emerge from the trees.  She saw with some surprise that a girl a few years younger than herself was traveling with the pair.

            "Inu-kun?"

            "Hai, Ruri-chan?"  Inuyasha replied, his eyes not leaving his father.

            "Who's that?"

            "Rin-sama.  Basically, my Godmother, though she died long before I was born.  Her spirit is so bound to my father that even in our time it visits him from time to time.  Well, let the confrontation begin."

            "Inuyasha,"  Sesshoumaru called from across the field.  "I see you're still alive.  But not for long.  It's time I claimed the Tetsusaiga from you."

            The elder youkai flew across the field with ungodly speed.  Ruri was sure she had to have dozed off or _something_.  Not even senpai had moved that fast.  She saw Toukijin flash out of Sesshoumaru's belt, but Inuyasha hadn't drawn a weapon yet.  His hands were on Tenseiga, but he had done nothing with it yet.  Then she saw.  His father swung his weapon toward Inuyasha, and he ducked.  Ruri remembered to blink.  Ducked?  No attack?  No, there it was.  Sesshoumaru was following through with the missed blow, his entire sword side wide open.  Her teacher had ducked and dove onto his sword side.  Now he drew his weapon, striking his father with Tenseiga in the shoulder.

            For the first time he could ever remember, Sesshoumaru was headed for the ground.  That brat Inuyasha had to have learned some tricks since they had last met.  He actually had the guts to dodge under his strike, and attack him from behind.  He let himself fall, and rolled through it to allow himself to move enough away from his victim to recover.  As he stood, he spun to face his brother, who had re-sheathed his sword.  He then realized that the blow hadn't taken his arm off like the first time he had been attacked by Tetsusaiga.  He was still holding Toukijin.

            "You've learned some new tricks, hanyou.  Been hanging out with the humans again?"

            His opponent smirked.  "You're good, but you do make some mistakes."

            "Yes, such as allowing you to live."

            He came at his victim again, this time choosing to let fly his attack earlier, allowing Toukijin to throw its razor-sharp projectiles.  "Let him dodge _this_."

            And he did.  Leaping up at the last second, Inuyasha cleanly dodged all of the projectiles.  He came flying down at his father, his right hand on Tenseiga's hilt as his left hand held the sword in its scabbard.  Just as he reached Sesshoumaru, he pulled the sword from its sheath and struck.  Sesshoumaru managed to block the sword as he had expected.  He flicked Tenseiga's sheath around in his left hand and held it as a sword, then swung it into Sesshoumaru's side.

            Sesshoumaru felt the entire right side of his body flame in pain.  This arrogant brat had managed to strike a nerve point.  The blow threw Sesshoumaru to the ground and several feet backwards.  Looking at how his opponent landed on the ground, he saw how he had been struck.  The dog really had been taught new tricks.

            Jaken stared open-mouthed.  That fool hanyou was actually beating Sesshoumaru-sama!  Whatever that bastard had done in his last attack was apparently serious; Sesshoumaru-sama hadn't gotten up yet.  He watched as Inuyasha walked up to Sesshoumaru.  This was it, the end!  He was exchanging final words with his brother, and his brother was... helping... him... up?  What was going on here?

            "Very well."  Sesshoumaru's face had returned to its infinite coolness after his son had explained everything to him, albeit briefly and quickly.  "We will not hinder your travels any more.  Good luck... my son."

            Sesshoumaru walked back to his traveling companions.

            "Sesshoumaru-sama!"  Rin cried, glomping his leg.

            "Rin, Jaken, we are moving on."

            "But, Sess--Sesshoumaru-sama... your brother..."

            "Is not here."

            "WHAT?  Then, then who is that man?"  Jaken shrieked, clearly confused at this point.

            "Someone who looks very much like him," was all that the youkai would reply.  Rin simply accepted this, but Jaken kept muttering under his breath.

******


	10. A Youkai's Mother

**Author's Note**:  Footnotes are at the end of the chapter.

***** There and Back Again 

Chapter Ten:  A Youkai's Mother

            From her perch on the rock, Ruri watched the menagerie disappear in another direction into the forest.  She hopped down and helped Inuyasha gather their belongings together, still wondering where they were going to stop for the night as darkness was fast approaching.  To her relief, the youkai appeared to have some idea of where to stop.

            "If I remember correctly, there is a hot spring not far from here.  We should stop near there for the night."

            Appeased, Ruri decided to walk the last leg herself instead of being carried.  Apparently the youngest Inutaishou had listened well as a child.  Less than a half hour after resuming walking she could smell the slight smell of sulfur indicating a hot spring could very well be nearby.  Of course, knowing her senpai's nose, it was possible that he'd smelled it all along, but no matter.  They were here.

******

            Bathing was gratefully uneventful.  Inuyasha had perched on a rock within her sight but kept his back to her the entire time she bathed.  They hadn't even been in Sengoku Jidai for 24 hours and they'd already gone through two battles.  Was this entire excursion going to be this rough?  Probably, she thought to herself.  He hadn't given her training in blades just to kill time.  The water slowly wore away the last aches left from that torturous day.  A week ago she was trying to resume life as close to normal as what she had before boarding the rollercoaster known as Nadesico.  Then she received a call asking her to participate in a study concerning the Chulip Crystals.  It was actually Yurika that encouraged her to take the job, and Akito had pointed out that while Nergal was never up to any good when it came to the blue crystals, if she was involved there was a better chance at preventing them from carrying out anything nefarious.  That led her to meeting Inu-kun.  She still had one question left that she had no way of answering yet - was she glad she had met Inutaishou Inuyasha?

            "Ruri-chan, you should finish up soon.  It's getting late.  We should eat and get some sleep."

            "Hai" she said to the back of the youkai's head.  She shook off most of the water and climbed back into the fire-rat kimono. When she approached Inuyasha, he held up a string of fish.

            "The pool that I was facing had some great fish in it,"  he explained as they returned to the small clearing where they had left their packs and traveling cloaks.  Inuyasha built a small fire and cooked the fish while Ruri went ahead and spread out the sleeping mats they had brought with them.

            They sat and munched their fish quietly.  Ruri reflected that it tasted completely different than how Akito cooked fish.  But, then again, the only open flames Akito ever used were from a gas oven or maybe a grill, definitely not a campfire.  It just kind of highlighted the difference between Inuyasha and her family.  Yurika was a seemingly endless fountain of energy, and though he sometimes had trouble doing so, Akito always managed to keep up with her.  They tended to let their passions consume them.  Inu-kun's father, Sesshoumaru, was the opposite.  It was very easy to refer to him as "Lord", since he carried himself as the perfect gentleman, meeting both Japanese and Western descriptions.  The exception appeared to be with his brother, based upon the ferocity with which he attacked Inu-kun earlier.

            "Ruri."

            Inu-kun.  She regarded him while she finished her fish.  He was in some regards the opposite of herself.  For her, restraining emotional outbursts and remaining logical were quite easy, but she often strove to be able to express her emotions.  Inu-kun was different.  From what Sesshoumaru-sama said, he inherited it from his uncle, whom she expected to meet soon.  Inuyasha-sama was apparently very much a hothead, not bothering to contain any emotion.  Inu-kun obviously had the same swelling tides of emotion within him, yet he obviously tried to keep everything as in control as his father did.  Despite all of that, even though he had the ability to be extremely crude, when he addressed her it was always... brotherly.  Perhaps that's why she could call him Inu-kun.  He certainly didn't seem mind it and reciprocated the title.  She suddenly wished that she knew more about the girl she saw, Rin.  Jaken-baka and Inu-kun always described Sesshoumaru-sama during this time as a fearful lord, but that girl attached herself to him as if he was a warm father to her.  Sesshoumaru-sama also didn't seem the least bit surprised at her actions and didn't even try to stop her.  

            "RuriRuriRuriRuriRuri."

Ruri blinked and responded without thinking. "Baka."

            "Baka yourself.  You were completely zoned out then.  What's going on in that head?"

            "Nothing, baka."

            "Oookay," Inuyasha said, smiling.  He walked over to the tree where the gear was piled and retrieved the cloaks as well as the light blankets they had packed, tossing Ruri hers.  Ruri looked like she was about to say something, then blushed slightly.  He sat down on his mat she had laid out before speaking.  "Ruri, what is it?"

            "Nothing, baka."

            "Hmm. Two sentences in a row, must be something.  Besides, there's no point in not saying what's on our minds right now.  We either talk or play the console and kill its batteries."

            She unfurled the blanket, laid down and wrapped it and the cloak around her.  The youkai followed suit, deciding it'd be her that broke silence next.

            "Promise not to laugh, baka?"

            "Hai.  I saw you kill that fucking centipede.  I'm not about to mess with you."

            She couldn't help but smile a little at the response.  "It's just... Yurika-san started doing this weird... thing, and I got in the habit of it, and... I guess I miss it, even on the first night."

            "Story?"

            She rolled onto her side facing him, and nodded slightly, the blush spreading a little farther across her face.

            Inuyasha propped himself up on his elbow.  "Ruri-chan, there's nothing for you to be embarrassed about, even demons tell their children stories to help them sleep."

            "Your mother, too?"

            A cloud crossed her friend's face, and Ruri was afraid she'd crossed a line with him until she saw the cloud pass.  "While she was my mother, yes, she did."

            "While?"

            The youkai slowly sat up and looked towards the stars.  "I guess I did say we should say whatever's on our minds.  It's not normal bedtime story fare, but I guess it will do if that's what you want."

            Ruri nodded, and he turned to face her.  "I guess you've figured out that Inuyasha ended up coming back through the well to Kagome-obasan's time.  Otou-san, on the other hand, got there the hard way, so to speak.  If he had allowed it, Rin-sama would have married him as soon as she became of age, but at that point in time otou-san was still very strongly against humans and demons mating.  He saw her married off to a great human lord, and continued to remain in her life as her father, even to the day she preceded him in death.  For hundreds of years Sesshoumaru-sama mourned her loss.  Until she died, he didn't truly understand how much she meant to him.

            "Ages passed, and eventually my father met a beautiful mizu youkai [**1**] shortly before World War II.  My father is never one to rush things - I was born in 1996, shortly before Kagome-obasan went to Sengoku Jidai for the first time.  As you're aware, during the search for the shards of Shikon, Otou-san and Inuyasha were at odds, so he didn't even realize that he was practically neighbors with the Higurashis.  Yes, the entire time the Higurashis have been in possession of the shrine, Sesshoumaru-sama has had held the lands we still reside on.

            "It was 2016 or 2017, I don't remember exactly, when we first found out that we were practically neighbors.  Inuyasha-sama never gave up wearing the kimono you now wear, and mine purposefully mimics his.  It was on one of my attempts to get Jaken-baka to ride in a car with me that I actually ran into them, figuratively.  I had stopped to get gas, and at the pump across from me I saw a man who looked amazingly like me, wearing kimono like mine only brighter, and with black hair as long as mine.

            "Otou-san, having forgiven Inuyasha-sama many years ago, was eager to make amends with his brother, and the two brothers quickly grew back together.  Otou-san had mellowed much over the years, but didn't fully approve of Inuyasha's decision to become human.  He accepted it, however, and all was well.

            "At that point in time, Otou-san and I were still speaking with Ofukuro [**2**] rather frequently.  When father told her about my finding his brother accidentally, she immediately asked about the Shikon no Tama.  Otou-san had never spoken of the jewel to her, for he never cared to possess it and Ofukuro had never asked about it before.  Demons don't survive millennia by trusting everyone, and Otou-san suspected something.  When Ofukuro asked to meet Inuyasha-sama and Kagome-obasan, he agreed but made sure that he and I were both there.  His fears, unfortunately, were justified."

            Ruri's ever-wide eyes grew wider.  "She was after the jewel?"

            "Hai."  The sadness was plain in his eyes.  "Demons have a way of boasting about their accomplishments when they think they're close to their goal.  When she met Inuyasha-sama, she flew into a rage immediately because it was obvious he had decided to use the Shikon no Tama to become human, purifying it and killing its powers.  She then confessed that the only reason she had spent any time with my father at all was to get the Shikon no Tama.  She even bore me to try to increase her chances of getting the jewel."

            "Do you still see her?"

            Inuyasha's eyes locked with Ruri's and were filled with grief.  "In my nightmares," he whispered.  "In her rage she attacked my father so ferociously he was knocked unconscious, which isn't easy.  It... it was me that was forced to kill her."

            Ruri picked up her bedding and placed it next to Inuyasha's.  She sat down next to him and put her head on his shoulder.

            "It's strange," Inuyasha continued.  "Despite everything she did, she was still my mother, and so it grieves me still that I was forced to kill her.  However, I bear no shame for my actions.  The choice was to die and let the evil live or to live and kill the evil."

            "I'm sorry you had to do that, Inu-kun,"  Ruri felt that the sadness around them was almost palpable.

            Inuyasha stroked her hair.  "Ruri-chan, there is no need for you to be sorry.  Thank you, though."  He smiled at her.  "You really should sleep now, you know."

            "Hai."  Instead of returning to her own mat, Hoshino laid down next to Inuyasha and curled up against him.  She looked up to see him blushing.  "Baka, it's getting cold."

            Inuyasha wrapped his cloak around her as well as himself.  He couldn't tell that it was getting that much colder, but his insensitivity to heat he got from his father and insensitivity to cold from his mother.  Well, whatever.

******

**Footnotes**:

1.  Mizu youkai – water demon.

2.  Ofukuro – mother.  Though there are multiple words for mother (same as mama, mommy, etc), this is the one Inuyasha always uses for his mother.


	11. Bandits Plus Inuyasha vs Inuyasha

**Author's Note**:  Footnotes are at the end of the chapter.

****** There and Back Again 

Chapter Eleven:  Bandits Plus Inuyasha vs. Inuyasha

            They apparently thought that they were being stealthy.  They had failed rather miserably.  The youkai didn't even need to smell them coming.  One carried twin kamas [**1**], the other a sword.  Inuyasha had been awake for several minutes listening to them, and could tell that even Ruri was awake and listening as well now.  He felt her shift slightly so that his cloak was free of her.

            From their whispering back and forth it was quite evident that they were rather ordinary highway robbers who simply thought too highly of their skills.  Sword told Kamas to hide to create the appearance of only one of them. Sword "quietly" opened his blade while Kamas "stealthily" climbed a nearby tree.

            Sword had apparently decided that his friend was a backup and that robbing them would be easier if the adult were dead.  He raised his weapon and brought it down where he thought his victim's neck was.  Ruri expected her friend to flick a blade out to parry the blow, or at least dodge it.  Inuyasha didn't move a muscle.  She heard the blade collide with enough force that she heard the metal snap into two, but Inuyasha never twitched or stopped breathing.  She opened her eyes and looked up to see the would-be assassin staring dumbfoundedly at a sword whose blade was suddenly reduced to a length of six inches.

            "Wha, what the hell are you?" Sword stammered.

            Finally, her traveling companion spoke.  "Baka."

            "You're al--"

            The youkai sprung from his laying position at the human, grabbing the mortal by his neck as he rose.  He took his momentum and used it to hurl the man into the base of the tree where Kamas was hiding.  The impact rendered Sword unconscious and sent a massive shudder from the tree.  Kamas wasn't holding very tightly to his perch and was thrown towards the ground below.  Before he could actually hit the ground, Inuyasha swung his still-sheathed katana at the man's stomach, yielding a satisfactory "oomph" from the robber.   The felon crumpled when he hit the ground, gasping to get air back into his lungs.

            Kamas looked up at his would-be victim as the youkai pulled the hood from his head revealing his eyes which matched those of his uncle.

            "You're not human!"  The man shrieked.

            "Nope," Inuyasha replied, menacingly removing the katana from its home.  "And yet you two weaklings thought you could take me on."  He held the blade inches from the man's terrified face.  "I should kill you now for your stupidity, but I'm not going to.  You two are both obviously proud of your petty, little selves and your futile skills as robbers.  Therefore, I'm going to make you live with the shame of having been beaten by an opponent who feels so much disdain for you that he didn't even feel it necessary to unsheathe his weapon during the battle.  Now, drag that worthless lump of garbage with you and get out of my face before I decide I've been too lenient on you and make both of you into living scarecrows."

            With the last words of Inuyasha still dripping with menace that made even Ruri shudder, she watched as Kamas dropped his weapons and half-dragged, half-carried his companion as fast as he could.  Once the two left the clearing and began plowing through the woods, Inuyasha retrieved some apples from the pack he carried, tossing one to Hoshino.

            "Inu-kun, would you really have done that?" she asked, catching the fruit.

            "Nope.  'Theatrical effect' only.  After what I did all those years ago I'd rather avoid killing if at all possible."

            "But he almost killed you with that blow."

            "What, that? That's what this is for," he said, indicating the cloak.  "You didn't know?  This is basically chain mail for our time."  Ruri looked at the outer layer of the cloth on the cloak he had given her to see that it looked like metal and carbon fiber woven together.

            She finished the apple and tossed the core at his head.  "Baka."

            "Baka yourself.  I'd have thought you'd have recognized the fabric since a variant goes into making the new military-grade comp-cases."

            Ruri rose and stood like a scarecrow, flapping her arms slightly.  "Okay, so what's with this kimono?"

            "It's fire-rat fur.  one hundred percent flame-proof and strong enough to withstand many of the human weapons from this era."  Inuyasha picked up the fallen kamas, hurling one into a nearby tree and with the other tried to slice his robe.  The blade broke off near the hilt without so much as snagging the fabric.   Satisfied, Ruri began her part of packing out.

******

            They had all been walking since fairly early that morning.  Inuyasha was still in a rather foul mood from yesterday's fight with Kagome and had decided to make everyone else as miserable as he was.  Kagome didn't seem upset about this fact in the least, leaving the other part of the group to be the ones who suffered from the early yet for some reason agonizingly slow moving pace.  Topping all of that, it had begun raining a short while ago.

            Sango sighed.  "They do seem to enjoy tormenting each other, don't they?"

            Houshi-sama agreed.  "They do indeed act much like an old married couple."

            Inuyasha and Kagome both stopped dead and spun to face the rest of their party.  "WHAT WAS THAT?"

            A chorus of "nothing" echoed in response to their leaders' question.  Kagome ended the conversation with a sudden gasp.  "Jewel Shards!"

            "Well, looks like the hike back may not have been a waste after all."  Inuyasha cracked a few joints in anticipation and unsheathed Tetsusaiga.  "Where're they at?"

            "They're coming right at us!  And there's several!"  They looked down the road before them to see two darkly-cloaked travelers.  The hoods of the cloaks and the rain obscured their faces, but one looked to be about the height of Inuyasha's brother, the other a little shorter than 

            "Which one of them has the shards?"

            "The tall one Inuyasha, the tall one."

            "Figures, I smell youkai coming from that one.  Keh, no problem."  Inuyasha raised Tetsusaiga and took off towards the strangers, paying no heed to Kagome's shouts that he be careful.  The stranger apparently wanted a fight, as he began running towards the hanyou.  Inuyasha leaped into the air at his opponent and his opponent followed suit, still not having drawn his weapon.  'Too bad for him,' Inuyasha thought and sent all of the force of his flight into Tetsusaiga's arc.  It was at that moment his opponent vanished from Inuyasha's single-minded line of sight.

            Kagome and the others watched in horror as the cloaked youkai simply rolled out of the way of Tetsusaiga in mid-air.  The opponent waited until he was beside Inuyasha to unsheathe his weapon.  As he passed Inuyasha he spun again in the air and backhanded the hanyou with his weapon, sending Inuyasha crashing into the ground as he landed and slid in the opposite direction.

            Fearful of a coming death blow, Miroku grabbed the prayer beads around his arm, but found Sango a few steps ahead of him.

            "Hiraikotsu!"

            The cloak swirled to face Sango, the only things showing from the cloak were the hands grasping the sword.  Kagome had to stifle a sudden giggle in spite of the danger, as it reminded her of that strange American sci-fi character Darth Vader.  Hiraikotsu sailed towards its intended victim, and the victim parried the blow easily.  The boomerang of doom carved a path of destruction through several nearby trees.  Sango was shocked to see it returning to her, and almost didn't catch it.

            "Sango-chan!  Are you okay?"  Kagome came running to her friend's side.

            "Hai."  Kagome was puzzled by the look of shock which turned to anger on Sango's face.  "It's nearly impossible to deflect Hiraikotsu in such a way that it comes straight back to me as if it had never been deflected."

            "That means..."

            "We're being played with."

******

**Footnotes**:

1.  Kama – Scythe, but not the giant kind Death carries.  Kohaku's weapon of choice is a kama with a chain attached.


	12. Sango vs Inuyasha

There and Back Again 

Chapter Twelve:  Sango vs. Inuyasha

            Inuyasha heard all this, and, instead of using Sango-style strategy in his next move, used Inuyasha Battle Stratagem #1: If whacking it doesn't work, whack it again.  If whacking it again doesn't work, whack it harder.  This could be followed by Inuyasha Battle Stratagem #2:  In the event of failure in Stratagem #1, repeat #1 until the opponent surrenders in frustration.

            He held Tetsusaiga coiled on his side and charged again at his opponent.  Even with the rain muddying the road he flew at his opponent with amazing speed.  As he neared the cloak and began his strike, it suddenly whirled and parried his blow.  Inuyasha found himself on the defensive, barely having time to block the blows as they flew at him.

            Sango's eyes widened further.  Kagome looked back and forth between the battle and her friend.  Even Miroku wasn't sure what was wrong.

            "Sango, what is wrong?" the monk inquired.

            "He's... he's holding his sword… backwards."

            "Huh?"  Kagome's lack of experience with weapons left her confused.  Sango gathered her thoughts as the opponents danced past their field of vision. Well, one was dancing.  The other was trying to keep up.  And unfortunately it was the latter who was wearing bright red.

            "A katana has one edge, right?"  Kagome nodded.  "He's holding it backwards, meaning no matter what he does, there's no way for him to cut Inuyasha.  He might as well be using a stick on him."  As if to put a period on the sentence, Tetsusaiga landed between the three of them.

            "Shit!  You bastard!"  Inuyasha lunged for his weapon, his opponent doing nothing to hinder him.

            Sango grabbed the hilt and handed the sword to Kagome.  "Don't let Inuyasha have it back yet."

            "Give me that back, bitch!"

            "Osuwari!"

            As she walked past his muddy hole, Sango spoke to Inuyasha's temporarily inert form.  "He's playing with us.  You're good with Tetsusaiga, but not with normal swords.  Let me handle this."  She pulled her blade from its home and approached the cloak.

            "I am the taijiya Sango.  You will not use these jewel shards you carry to cause harm to come upon anyone."

            For the first time in the conflict, the opponent spoke.  "I have no intention of using the shards I carry at all.  I am simply their courier, and my only intention is to deliver them to their new owner."  Kagome and Inuyasha looked at each other.  They both recognized that he spoke with the coolness of the hanyou's half brother, but definitely didn't fight like him.

            Sango gripped her weapon tightly, assuming he meant to deliver the fragments to Naraku.  "You will not reach your destination, courier.  Naraku will not be receiving these shards."  She assumed a stance which caused every demon she'd ever face to tremble.  Though she was known for Hiraikotsu, she was no slouch with a katana.

            Her opponent lazily rolled his sword back in his hand, assuming a stance with the sword's blade running the length of his sword-arm.  "Who said they're for Naraku?"

            Sango surged forward.  Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, and Shippou stared with mouths open at the combatants.  They knew Sango was good, but this was scary.  All were having problems following which blade was which as they flew back and forth across the road.  The only thing Inuyasha could compare it to was the time he watched a forest fire during a snowstorm.  Neither was gaining any ground against the other, yet both contained forces to be feared.

            Miroku was having similar yet different thoughts on the matter.  "Daaamn she's hot when she fights like that,"  he whispered.  "Ow! Shippou!"  The kitsune smirked at Miroku from the monk's shoulder.

            Kagome heard Inuyasha muttering something about fire and ice, and had to agree with him.  Even with her ignorance about fencing, she could classify them that way.  Sango's style was fiery and direct, designed to quickly consume an opponent and defeat it utterly to prevent it from doing any more damage to anything else.  Her opponent's icy style was fluidic and appeared to be born from much sparring.

            Beyond the style, it matched the attitudes of the opponents.  Sango was infuriated at an opponent she saw as toying with them, and becoming angry at her inability to best this youkai.  Her opponent could have out-iced Sesshoumaru; he'd said nothing since those few comments before the two locked swords.  Kagome thought that if they could see his face, it would be devoid of all emotion during the battle.

            The two combatants locked swords together, and Sango had the first glimpse of her foe's face.  From where they were, her friends were not rewarded with the same view, but watched as the concentration and fury drained from her face.  They pushed off from each other and both slid backwards in the muddy road.  As soon as they each stopped, they both assumed stances, readying for each other's next onslaught.

            Suddenly a gust of wind from the north caught everyone by surprise.  Inuyasha's and Kagome's hair whipped into their faces.  The wind caught the opponent's large cloak and billowed it out to reveal a dark garnet kimono similar to Inuyasha's.  The hood fell back and silver-white hair spilled out, flowing behind the youkai. Yellow eyes stared back at the group.  The youkai's companion, reading the end of the battle, walked up beside him, letting the wind blow her cloak as well, revealing a miniature, feminine version of Inuyasha.  (Ruri had watched enough of Akito's anime to know this looked as cool as _Hell_, even in rain, and you did _not_ miss an opportunity to pull this off.)

            Inuyasha and company all stared open-mouthed at the sight before them.  Everyone slowly walked up beside Sango, who was still holding her katana up in shock.  The wind died down, letting the cloaks fall back down onto the shoulders of their owners.  Ruri had problems hiding a smile.  They'd certainly managed to make a rather dramatic entrance.

******


	13. Something Wicked This Way Comes

**Author's Note:** Well, I suppose I should summarize right quick - we're now halfway through the ordeal, so it's a good place to recap. In the future as I've written it, after completing the jewel Inuyasha opted to return through the well to Kagome's time and become human. Not how I'd personally like the series to end, but works for a plot device here. Sesshoumaru also lives through the Meiji Era and beyond and gets to the "present" time the "normal" way. Sesshoumaru took a mate in the 20th century who bore him a son whom he named after his brother. It was during this time that Sesshoumaru also took on a surname to better hide within society, that of his father Inutaishou.

Fast forward yet another 200 years, Sesshoumaru's still around (demons != mortal, remember?), and his son Inuyasha is in demon maturity about 20, 22 despite being far older in "people years". The company who controls gate-based hyperjumping on earth (the concept's similar to Bebop if you haven't seen Nadesico) in researching jumping found legends about the Bone Eater's Well. Searching for profit by any means, Nergal contacted the house of Inutaishou about it, and the two parties "agreed" to conduct research into it. However, Sesshoumaru and his son had found jewel fragments which existed beyond the completion of the jewel, and therefore sought to return them to their rightful owner to seal off the possibility of paradox.

Yeah, I think that's about it. Oh, and Nadesico fans? The Inutaishou Inuyasha/Hoshino Ruri does not follow the same pattern as Tenkawa Akito/Hoshino Ruri. Neither will I burn your eyes. You have my word. Well, looks like all the pieces are on the board now. Time to play some memory mahjongg.

There and Back Again 

Chapter Thirteen:  Something Wicked This Way Comes

            Kagome stared down at the vial which now contained twice the shards it had earlier held.  This was certainly not a turn of events she'd expected.  She thought wistfully for a second that she should have been at home by now, getting ready for the date with Hojo tomorrow evening.  "Oh well, what's one more stood up date?" she muttered.

            "Hmm?" Sango said.

            "Oh, nothing, nothing."  Kagome looked over at the two guests they had at their fire tonight.  One, the spitting image of her hanyou friend, the other one the spitting image said was the reincarnation of her hanyou friend.  And no blood relation between them, Ruri had been quick to point out.  A look between the two oldest girls at the campfire said they agreed on what _that_ meant.  By his lack of reaction, it also proved one of two things about the younger Inuyasha.  Either he was as dumb as Inuyasha senior when it came to women or he was even cooler-reacting than Sesshoumaru was.  Either way, he was a grandson of Inutaishou, that was for sure.

            The names problem was also quickly worked out.  Shippou started to call the younger "Inu-kun" as Ruri did, but was quickly told by her he should do otherwise.  Shippou cried after that and cried even harder when she called him "baka", so the group quickly decided the new arrival would simply be "Inu-san."  They also worked out that when Kagome next went back into the well, Inuyasha, Inu-san and Ruri would go with her.  Inuyasha and Kagome would travel forward in time with Inu-san and Ruri, and then use one of the blue thingies to get back to Kagome's time.

            Further looks were shared between Sango and Kagome when Ruri stacked Inu's and her sleeping mats together.  Kagome did find herself jealous, however, as the mats they carried fluffed out much farther and rolled up tighter than her sleeping bag did.  For the most part, however, the evening was uneventful, consisting of lots of boasting from Inuyasha towards his nephew, which generally elicited more than a few baka's from Ruri.  This was always much to the enjoyment of the rest of the group, as it never failed to infuriate the hanyou.  Kagome did notice that Inu always referred to his uncle as Inuyasha-sama, but was under no false pretenses about the hanyou's crudeness.  Must be Sesshoumaru-sama showing through, Kagome thought.

            One by one the party fell asleep.  Kirara and Shippou were the first to fall asleep, Kirara by default, as Shippou had fallen asleep on her.  The third was Ruri, having laid down with her head in her senpai's lap as stories were swapped back and forth.  Inuyasha shortly headed into a nearby tree, and the houshi was dozing.  This left Kagome, Sango, and Inu still up, and the two girls decided they were going to grill him about Ruri, since the rest of the party was too male to pick up on any signs.

            They plopped down in front of the youkai between him and the fire, enough space between them that the firelight still illuminated his face.  Inu was suddenly reminded of pulp detective novels, with the good cop/bad cop alone with the crook in an empty room illuminated by one light directly over the crook.

            Kagome had apparently decided to play bad cop.  "So, no blood relation between you two?"

            Inu saw where _this_ was going.  It was going to be a long night.  He stroked Ruri's hair to keep her asleep as he responded.  "No, no blood relation as we define it."  His future aunt had obviously only meant that as a "getting to my point" question, and so was caught completely flat-footed by the response.

            "Huh?"

            He briefly told them of Ruri's history and the genetic manipulation she went through.  Kagome was able to somewhat follow it based on what she knew from biology class, but Sango was lost.  Inu stopped and decided to summarize in a way that might make sense.

            "There is no parental way to say that we are related, but if you compared our blood you would probably declare us to be second or third cousins."  This Sango caught, and made everything else he'd said earlier in the conversation make more sense.  But it was distracting them from the original purpose of the conversation.  Kagome was clearly trying to figure out how to get back to what she wanted to ask, so Sango decided to speed things up.

            "So, what _is_ the relationship between you and Ruri-chan?"  Kagome was shocked at Sango's directness but couldn't argue with the question.  After all, it _was_ what she wanted to ask in the first place.

            Inu laughed slightly, careful not to awaken Ruri.  Looks like both wanted to play the bad cop.  "I'm well aware of how we behave and I'm also aware of the signals she gives off that my uncle and the monk are oblivious to."  He paused and then gave a more direct answer.  "I am her temporary guardian while we're in this time.  I am also in a sense senpai to her in that I am a child leading a child in battle, as the only experience she has in fighting is space... ship-to-ship combat.  In the time I've known her, I guess you could say that I have grown to love her, but as a sister.  No romantic involvement here - she's thirteen.  It's pretty obvious how she feels about me, I'm aware, but there's also a good chance it's just confusion since I'm probably the first un-romantically-involved male she could call 'senpai.'"

            Satisfied, the girls returned to their spots around the fire and let themselves fall off to sleep.  Inu stayed awake a while longer, listening to the sounds of the forest.

******

            Near the midnight hour, Miroku's head snapped up.  Something wasn't right. He surveyed the campsite, not noticing anything out of place.  He saw that Inuyasha's nephew was still awake and assumed the same was true of the hanyou.  Miroku noticed the nephew subtly motion him over.  He slowly rose and crossed the camp, seating himself by the youkai in dark red.

            "So, you sense it too, Houshi-sama?"  he whispered.

            "Indeed, just now I sensed a great disturbance, as if some tremendous evil were nearby.  Do you think it could be Naraku?"

            The youkai shook his head slightly.  "I believe Kaede was correct in saying that Naraku is drawing demons to the south.  In all the stories I heard as a child, I gained the very clear picture that battles with Naraku all took place on his own grounds.  If he wanted to go to someone, he sent a minion to do it.  He never came out to fight himself.  Not only that, the presence of Shikon no Kakera would have awakened Kagome-obasan."

            "Indeed.  Considering that, it's probably not one of his minions, either.  Whatever I'm sensing is quite strong, the kind of demon that Naraku would certainly absorb into himself instead of using it as a minion."

            "Hai.  Such a power would be a difficult minion to control.  No, I think we are dealing with an independent demon or demons."

            "You believe there to be two?"

            The youkai listened for a moment before continuing.  "I believe that we have been watched all evening. I sensed an evil presence, although slight, even before we dined this evening.  As you awoke, I felt the evil increase drastically.  We may be looking at a weaker youkai watching us all evening that was just joined by a stronger--"

            Both men froze in mid-conversation.  They no longer sensed the presence nearby.  Miroku stood and moved to sleep sitting behind the youkai, facing away from the fire.  Inuyasha the younger nodded in agreement to the defensive position.  Inuyasha the elder snored.

******


	14. Waiting And, Sango vs Inuyasha Again

**Author's Note**:  Footnotes are at the end of the chapter.

****** There and Back Again 

Chapter Fourteen:  Waiting.  And Sango vs. Inuyasha, Again.

            "Oi, Kagome."  Kagome fluttered her eyes open to see the hanyou hovering inches from her face.

            "KYAA!"  The rest of the camp was up and staring at a panting Kagome and a blushing and grumbling Inuyasha.

            Inuyasha stood.  "We're going back to the well, so Kagome can go on this 'date' thing.  You guys catch up as soon you can."  He was obviously feeling better at receiving several jewel shards for free, even if their courier did stomp all over him before giving them to him, er, Kagome.

            Kagome cautiously crept up onto the hanyou's back and they took off.  Inuyasha's nephew watched them go, then looked down at Ruri.  "You get the feeling he has no idea what a 'date' is?"

            "Hai.  Inuyasha-sama no baka."

            "Hai."  The youkai started to make another snide comment about his uncle but stopped, sensing the "lesser evil" from the night before watching them again.  As Sango and Miroku started moving around packing, he carried a random object over and handed it to the houshi.  "The first's back."

            The monk took the object and paused, pretending to consider it.  "Yes, indeed.  I can barely feel it, but it's there.  It's not the one that awoke me last night."

            "No, I'm now sure that there were two when we spoke last night, one just joining the first which awoke you.  This one's the first one.  I had been planning to return with them, since they're going anyway, but this presence concerns me.  There's something familiar about it that I can't place."

            "Do we try to attack?"

            "No, not without Inuyasha.  We may need everyone's skills for the malevolence we felt last night, and if we take on the smaller it is sure to summon the larger."

            "Hai."

            Ruri saw darkness in Inu's face as he walked back to where she was.  "Inu-kun, I thought you wanted to go back with them the next time they went."

            He forced the darkness from his face, determined not to alarm his charge.  "Eh, what's one more day or so?  We're likely to have a fight on our hands when we get back, we might as well enjoy a brief vacation."

            Ruri could tell that wasn't all of it but opted to trust him.  They hadn't hidden anything from each other since they got here, and if he was choosing to not tell her something now, she knew that in time he would tell her.  She also couldn't argue with sticking around a few more days.  All of her life had been within either the stale, polluted Tokyo air or the brittle controlled environment of labs and starships.  Even the time she remembered being in Scandinavia during her early childhood was spent in a controlled environment more than the country's natively clean air.  Sengoku Jidai's weather was a welcome change of pace.

They finished packing up camp and headed back towards the well.  Ruri hadn't been warned about Kirara, and was shocked to see the kitten-sized youkai flame into her full size.  Of course, Sango, Miroku and Shippou had never seen the transformed version of the younger Inuyasha, nor had they seen his father transformed. Thus, they were even more shocked than Ruri had been when he chose to carry Ruri in his horse-sized dog form which stood at least half a meter taller than Kirara

******

            Though they had traveled quickly back to the well, the lesser evil that they had sensed continued to follow them, always staying out of sight from the group.  The trip was completely uneventful however, so Miroku and Inu saw no reason to worry their companions until Inuyasha and Kagome returned.  Besides, if the two really were after the jewel shards, the watcher should know that it was Kagome who carried the shards, not any of them.  Thus, the sextet spent an uneventful day lounging by the well.  Miroku spent the better part of the day trying to grok space-time.

            Ruri lacked Inu-kun's patience and quickly grew infuriated with the houshi's questions which she took for granted.  Early on, she broke out the console, which of course attracted Shippou's and Kirara's attention.  Kirara quickly gave up trying to assist Shippou and plopped down in Ruri's lap, as the ponytails were dealing Shippou a thorough clock-cleaning.

            "... space and time... are like... fabric... but..."  Miroku was thoroughly confused by this point.  Sango had long given up on the monk as well, and had wandered off a few minutes ago.  Even Inu-kun was losing patience by this point, Ruri noted.

            Suddenly, a freshly-carved bokken embedded itself in the ground in front of the youkai.  He looked up to see Sango holding a second one.  "Oi, youkai, let's finish this."

            The youngest of the clan of Inutaishou welcomed the relief from the current conversation, and rose to claim the bokken.  Sango was obviously referring to their match from yesterday.  He made a few sweeps with the weapon to limber up his sword arm.  Damn, this thing was well made.  He stopped and stared at the bokken.

            "What?"  Sango challenged.  The rest of the party looked at the youkai with curiosity.

            "You made this, in the few minutes you were apart from the rest of us?"

            Sango was beginning to get pissed at the insinuation that it was crude.  "What're you trying to say?"

            The youkai flipped it through various strikes and katas.  "It's just that this is probably one of the best-made bokken I've ever held.  I've been trying to find a good bokken for half a century, and none came close to this."  He stared down at the wooden blade in wonder, oblivious to the red spreading across Sango's face.  "So, as thanks for this, sure, let's finish what we started."  He shrugged off his haori [**1**], setting it on top of his nearby cloak.  Ruri quickly finished off Shippou, just when he'd thought he might be winning, so they could watch the match.

            Inuyasha tucked the bokken into his belt, his right hand casually on the hilt.  Sango held her weapon before her and slowly circled her opponent.

            "You know that I was the best swordswoman, or swordsman, in my village?"

            "And have slain countless demons.  Some years from now, as the Kyu and Dan system becomes established, you will rank as Eighth Dan, the second-highest rank."

            Sango smiled.  "Very well.  And what is your rank?"

            He returned the smile and leapt towards her.  "Ninth."

            The bokkens cracked and resounded through the clearing of the Bone-Eater's Well.  Ruri was almost in shock.  She knew he was formidable, but... a Ninth Dan iaido practitioner?  Ruri watched the two in fascination, trying to remember all the attacks he had shown her and naming them as he pulled them off.

            Miroku watched the two closely, greatly enjoying the sight of Sango fighting when she wasn't in any danger.  She was definitely...

            Thonk.

            Thonk.

            Miroku rubbed his head and looked over at the two children and Kirara.

            "Baka," Ruri said flatly.

            "Baka," Shippou echoed.

            "Mew," Kirara sounded.

            Sango didn't notice any of this, as she was rather preoccupied with trying to punch a hole in Inu's defenses.  So far she hadn't had any luck.  Every time she swung he seemed to have his bokken already in the path of hers.

            "How do you do that?" she snapped out of frustration.

            He coolly smiled at her and deflected several more blows before answering.  "This particular Ryu hasn't even been invented yet.  It is Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, which focuses upon reading an opponent's attacks."

            He leapt over her while she swung a forehand stroke and tapped her left shoulder on the way down, almost sending her to the ground.  "The difficulty with this Ryu," he continued, dodging an overhand strike so that it completely missed him, "is that it requires knowledge of several Ryu to be able to master.  However, it does have one advantage."  He watched as Sango inventively faked another overhand attack then spun and attacked with her off-hand.  "I can learn other styles' attacks quickly."  He parried the blow then performed the same move against her, which she didn't dodge as well as he did.  She caught the blow on her hip and went to the ground.  The youkai leaped over her head as she fell towards the ground.  She landed in a crouch, her bokken still in her hand, but before she could do anything she found the younger Inuyasha's bokken laid across her throat.  He was squatted down behind her, and the blade made it look as if he were giving her a rather sadistic hug.

            "Concede?"

            She lunged backwards, hoping to catch him off-guard.  He merely rolled backwards, letting her lunge into his shins, and used her momentum to launch the taijiya into the air.  It turned out that she was the one caught off-guard, as she landed on her backside and slide several feet away from him on the grass.

            Miroku stood.  "Sango! want me to check you for injuries?"  He dodged the rock she threw at him, but didn't see the other two coming.

            "Hentai!"

            "Baka."

            "Baka."

            "Mew."

            Miroku rubbed his head and sat back down, waiting for the two to finally give up.  Growling stomachs could soon be heard even above the echoing bokken, and ended the match in a draw.  Sango was miffed that the youkai wasn't even sweating and she was still panting as she downed some rice.  She wasn't miffed that the youkai was dragging Ruri through analyzing what she had done right and wrong;  her training had been that way too.  No, the other thing that was annoying her was that the moisture she was emitting was attracting extra attention from the monk.  Not that she didn't want to be noticed by him, but... "Grrrr."

            Everyone gathered looked at Sango. Youkai Inuyasha suddenly wished he was the size of Myoga and could go hide in Kirara's fur.  He then noticed Sango wasn't actually glaring at him, she was glaring at the monk.  For his part, Miroku _was trying to become the size of Myoga, albeit unsuccessfully._

******

**Footnotes**:

1.  Haori – the outer "jacket" men wear.  It's the part of his kimono that Inuyasha tends to throw over Kagome's head a lot early on into the series.  Refer to Yura of the Hair and the Spiderheads episodes.


	15. Something Wicked Arrives

There and Back Again 

Chapter Fifteen:  Something Wicked Arrives

            The afternoon was spent mostly on practicing katas.  Youkai Inuyasha would have spent it this way anyways if given the opportunity.  Ruri did it because Inu-kun did it, Sango did it to keep from giving any indication she was a slacker.  Shippou even tried to do some. Miroku spent the afternoon in quiet meditation (on the subject of Sango).

            It was almost dusk when Kagome and Inuyasha returned through the well.  The exhausted menagerie walked the distance to Kaede's hut where they would spend the night.  Sango noticed the monk being unusually quiet for having "meditated" all afternoon, glancing around him often.

            "What's wrong, Houshi-sama?"

            "It's um, just something I've been pondering, that's all."

            Sango raised an eyebrow but chose not to pursue it.  Ruri, who had decided to bum a ride on the back of her companion, had noticed a similar disquiet in Inu-kun.  Inu-kun, for his part, realized rather quickly that she was staring at him, considering she was three inches from his face.

            "Do not react when I tell you this," he said, his voice barely a whisper, "but we're being watched."

            Ruri twisted to look back at Miroku and Sango, which "coincidentally" placed her mouth millimeters from his ear.  "By what?" she murmured.

            Inuyasha the younger couldn't help but smile.  "You're catching on quick," he whispered as she faced back forward to watch Inu-kun's aunt and uncle.  "I don't know yet.  We'll just have to see what happens, I guess."  Ruri nodded and laid her head on his shoulder, dozing as they walked the final distance.

            Upon walking into the village, Miroku and the youngest Inutaishou both felt the presence disappear again, as it had after it had been joined by the massive evil the night before.

******

            "I like not the sound of this," Kaede summarized after Miroku and Inu had related their observations on their mystery guest.

            "Well, it ain't Naraku, so we can take 'em down anytime," the elder Inuyasha bragged to the room.

            "Are ye sure, Inuyasha?"

            "What's THAT supposed to mean?"

            The hanyou's namesake sighed, refraining from commenting on his elder's rashness. "Inuyasha-sama, I'm sure you've heard the phrase 'no matter how strong you are, there is always someone stronger?' "

            Inuyasha sulked, unable to argue with what his mother had always said.  The youkai continued.  "Naraku is the sworn enemy of all of you, I do not argue with that.  However, he is not the most powerful youkai in existence.  After all, he isn't even youkai - he is hanyou.  Inutaishou-sama's power far overshadowed that of Naraku, and yet there was a demon that even he could not defeat, only imprison."

            "Yeah, and I kicked his ass!"

            The youkai rubbed a temple.  "So, if your father was powerful, and another demon is as powerful as your father, and you defeat said demon, it means only that you are as powerful as your father."

            "Since A equals B, and B equals C, A equals C," Kagome chimed in.

            "Indeed.  However, it does not by any means mean that C is greater than A or B, only equal."  The hanyou scratched his head, not liking the line of argument but not understanding it nearly enough to win.  Instead, he rose from his seat.

            "I'm going for a walk."

            When he reached the door, Kagome gasped.  "What, bitch, you got somethin' else to say?" Inuyasha challenged, spinning to face her, not noticing that Sango and Miroku were wearing the same expression as Kagome.

            The younger Inuyasha stood and placed his swords at his side, thumbing open Tenseiga.  The hanyou was a bit mystified by their behavior until a screech pierced the night.  The youkai walked past his uncle into the night.  "Hope you're limbered up," he said.  He darted towards where the sound had come from followed closely by his uncle.

            Ruri grabbed her weapons and hurried after them, followed by everyone else.  They caught up with them at the village's rice paddies.  It was evident what the malevolence was that they had sensed, as well as what made the screech.  A massive demon stood in the middle of the patties.

            The hanyou Inuyasha moved to step into the patties but was blocked by his nephew.  "Do you know what that is?" the younger asked calmly.

            "Yeah, moron, a DEMON."

            The younger smiled.  "Yes.  But it is a water demon."  Ruri's eyes widened, remembering earlier conversations with Inu-kun.  "You haven't fought many elemental demons, have you?"

            "What's the difference, a demon's a damn demon, and that's all there is TO IT." The hanyou snorted.

            "No, that's not all there is to it."  The water demon was obviously waiting for them to make the first move, so the inu youkai chose to explain the situation.  "Kouga's a wolf youkai, and has power over wolves, follow?"

            His uncle shrugged.  "Yeah, so?"

            "So a water demon has power over water."

            "So?"

            The youkai sighed at his uncle.  Ruri finished for him.  "Baka.  It means that the paddies are now its weapon."

            Reality settled on the elder hanyou.  "So how do we attack it?"

            His nephew couldn't resist sarcasm.  "Carefully."  He smacked Tenseiga's tsuka securely back against its sheath and grasped his katana.  He raced down the narrow row separating paddies.  Realizing the idea, the hanyou followed suit a few rows over, drawing Tetsusaiga on the way.  They attacked almost simultaneously, Tetsusaiga with Kaze no Kizu and the katana with a blinding series of moves, but to no avail.  Both Inuyashas returned to the edge, one obviously more offended at the outcome than the other.

            "We didn't even scratch that damn thing!"  the hanyou seethed.

            "Baka.  You missed it totally didn't you?  It uses water as armor, causing our attacks to be weakened against it."

            "So what the HELL do you suggest we DO about that, NEPHEW?"

            "Ruri-chan!"

            "Hai, Inu-kun?"

            "Draw Tetsusaiga.  The two of you follow my lead."

            She withdrew the blade from its home and watched it flare to life.  She wasn't sure what good two Kaze no Kizu could do when one didn't do much of anything, but she had faith in her friend.  She watched as he stepped into the edge of the waters.

            "Hey, baa-kaaa, I thought you said NOT to DO that?"  Inuyasha snorted.

            "Baka.  I told YOU not to.  Not me."

            The water demon surged forward, not realizing its own peril.  When it was halfway to the dark red kimono, the katana flashed through the water, sending a torrent of terrifying power towards the attacker. "NOW!" Inu screamed.

            The bright red kimonos leaped into the air and with a scream of Kaze no Kizu attacked their opponent's wind scar.  Inuyasha saw what his nephew had done - create a wake through which Kaze could plow through and be allowed to inflict damage.  They were not out of danger, as he felt some of the attack that the mizu youkai had tried to launch.  It was as if a thousand tiny daggers had struck his fire-rat shroud at once.

            Amazingly, the hanyou realized all of this in a fraction of a second.  He listened with satisfaction as the mizu youkai screamed in pain.  Suddenly, he smelled an all-too-familiar scent and realized not all of the screaming was being done by the demon.  He tried to look in all directions at once and saw a flash of the darker kimono moving away from him.

            He saw motion from the direction of their opponent, and spun to face it.  "Bring it on!" He roared and lunged forward.

  
******


	16. Dooooooom

There and Back Again 

Chapter Sixteen: Doooooooom

            Terror spread through Inu's veins.  The demon hadn't blindly attacked the trio.  It chose the weakest member and focused there.  The fire rat fur had stopped most of the water blades, but even it had limits.  Ruri was losing blood fast as he strove to move her out of the range of battle.  He sensed that Kagome was following behind him, and was grateful for her presence.

            Kagome with Shippou in tow arrived just as Inu had lain Ruri out on the grass by Kaede's hut and pulled enough of the haori and kimono away to expose the wound to the chill air.  She plunked her pack down near them and quickly rummaged through to grab a flashlight.

            "Wha... wha... what's Inu DOING?"  The panic was clear in Shippou's voice.

            Kagome looked up from her rummaging to see Inu draw a sword.  "Tenseiga..."  She watched as he kneeled down by Ruri and placed his left hand on her shoulder.

            "It will hurt as Tenseiga enters, but the pain will pass quickly as it does its work, understand?"  Ruri heard more softness in his voice than she'd ever heard before.  She found herself too weak to speak and nodded her head slowly.

            Inu rolled the blade in his hand to hold it like a dagger.  Ruri winced and grabbed the hand on her shoulder as he plunged the blade in.  Kagome and Shippou watched spellbound as pink light flared from the wound.  When Tenseiga was withdrawn and the light faded, Kagome shook herself out of her reverie and ran up to the two, shining the flashlight on Ruri's side.

            "Tenseiga healed the wound!" Kagome whispered, the marvel clear in her voice.  She looked up to see the youkai staring at her as if that was the dumbest thing he'd ever heard.

            "Er, yeah, baka, that's what it's for."  He quickly shifted his attention back to Ruri.  "But its work isn't done yet.  Tenseiga does not replace lost blood.  Plus, healing the wound does not remove the poison from her system."

            "Poison!  That's cruel!"

            "That's survival for youkai.  Kill or be killed.  We've evolved some rather nasty weapons."  He pulled off his own haori and ripped a wide strip of fabric from his kimono.  He laced the fingers of his hand with Ruri's and tied them together with the cloth.

            "What are you doing?"  A combination of curiosity and fear was on Kagome's face.

            "Blood transfusion.  Sengoku Jidai style.  Squeamish?"

            Kagome shook her head no as Inu pulled the sleeves away from where the temporary wound would be.  Laying their arms on the ground, he lifted Tenseiga again.  A thin pink mist swirled around the blade as he laid it against their wrists.  Quickly, he cut into their arms and held the wound open with the sword.  Kagome watched as blood briefly spread to the cloth, but saw it was quickly sucked back into one of their bodies.  He held the blade against their arms for some moments, allowing his blood to flow into her, and the poison to flow into him.  Once the poison had left her and she had enough of his blood to be safe, he lifted Tenseiga.  Kagome's eyes were figuratively glued as the light once again flared around the wound, healing it as if it had never been there.

            Inu removed the bandage from their wrists and flexed his hand.  Ruri's eyes slowly fluttered to life.  "Inu-kun..."

            "Hai, Ruri-chan, I'm here."  He leaned close so she could see his face and stroked her hair.  "Rest now, Kagome-obasan will protect you until I return."

            Ruri nodded in agreement as did Kagome, the miko's face set with determination.  The determination was echoed in Inu's face as he leapt back towards the fray.

******

            "SHIT! Shit shit shit shit SHIT!"  Inuyasha the hanyou was not enjoying this battle.  Miroku and Sango had joined in, but the three weren't making very much headway against the demon.

            "Miroku, Sango, Inuyasha!"  The three briefly turned to see Inu standing at the edge of the rice field.  "This bitch is mine."  Even in the darkness they could see the blood red of his eyes.  They cleared out of the field as the youkai withdrew the swords from his side, embedding a Tenseiga and bokken in the ground on one side and the katana on the other.

            "Mizu youkai!  Mother of Mizu-a'kuma!  Are you familiar with Mizu no Shi'?"

            The trio at the field's edge looked at each other, the question plain on their faces.  "Water of Death?" Sango murmured.

            The demon roared with laughter.  "How could a dog demon perform such a thing?  Only elemental demons can cast elemental spells, silly dog boy."

            Inu smiled an unpleasant smile.  "One should always seek to understand their opponent.  You have not."  A mist began to swirl around him as he moved towards the man-made ponds.  As he entered the water, he spread his arms and the water began to boil and swirl around him.

            "By the powers of darkness and light,"

            Sesshoumaru's trademark golden whip emerged from both hands and he carved a five point star into the air with his hands.

            "By the waters of life from time's beginning,"

            The star's glow changed from yellow to red as it cast its own circle around itself.  The trio at the banks retreated up the hill, unsure of what was about to happen next.  The swirling around Inu had become a vortex hiding him from view.  The mizu youkai frantically tried to pull all the water she could towards herself in order to form a barrier against the coming onslaught.

            "Let me walk the path between light and darkness,"

            Inu spread his arms out again, feeling the torrent around him.

            "And destroy that which opposes me."

            With the final word, he threw his arms forward.  The pentacle leaped towards its target and the inferno of water around Inu followed it.  He watched as the victim turned to try to run away.

            Sango, Miroku, and Inuyasha stared with disbelief at what was happening before them.  The vortex that had surrounded Inu laid itself down horizontal to the ground and rushed its target.  The youkai they had been fighting tried to run from the onslaught but had no hope.  The torrent surged around the beast, and they watched in shock and horror as it disintegrated before their eyes.  The cyclone containing the body parts returned vertical.  It began to move back towards Inu, who opened his arms to receive it.

            Suddenly it stopped mid-step, as it were.  They looked over the field to see what could be affecting it, and saw in the far corner a beautiful woman who appeared to be about Sango's age. Miroku reflected that she looked like she would be an excellent choice to bear his child if she weren't obviously opposed to their purpose. They watched as she began to glow with a blue demonic light.  She too spread her arms towards the waterspout.  Looking back towards their friend, they saw that it was clearly a battle of wills between the two.

            The youngest member of the clan of Inutaishou quickly lost the battle.  In a fight to claim the remains of mizu no shi', a half mizu youkai who was fighting to dissipate poison from his system did not stand a chance against a full and healthy mizu youkai.  The torrent suddenly surged toward the woman and dove into her chest.  She stumbled backwards but did not fall, letting the remains absorb into her body but letting the water run off.

******


	17. The Morning After

There and Back Again 

Chapter Seventeen:  The Morning After

            Inuyasha leaped at the newcomer with Tetsusaiga held high.  Inu looked up at him and flicked Sesshoumaru's whip at him, catching him on the ankle and throwing him back to earth.

            "What the hell did you do THAT for?"  the hanyou screamed.  They watched as the woman disappeared into the foliage.

            The youkai stepped from the water and reclaimed his swords.  "Baka.  She will be in no shape to fight for some time.  Elemental youkai are far different from normal youkai.  Revenge is not a dish served cold with them.  It is served frozen.  She will certainly seek revenge on our family, but it will be ages before she does so."

            "So we should kill her NOW!"  Inuyasha was furious.

            His nephew suddenly looked more like Sesshoumaru than ever before.  "Baka.  That fight is not today, and will not be yours when it happens.  Be quiet."  He strode back up the hill to where the trio was standing.

            "Inu-kun..."

            Inu blinked.  Ruri was some distance away and in no condition to shout.  He looked around him.  The trio looked at him as if he'd lost his mind.  They obviously hadn't heard anything.

******

            Kagome dunked a rag into a bucket of water and wrung out as much water as she could from it.  She folded it and placed it on Ruri's forehead.  Tenseiga could indeed cheat death, but one healed by it still must recuperate from whatever wounds they had suffered.  Ruri also still had to fight the toxins that were left in her system.  Inu's somewhat crude blood transfusion had indeed saved her life, but the girl was still suffering.

            "Inu-kun..."

            "Thy friend comes soon, child," Kaede said gently from the doorway.

            Ruri opened her eyes and tried to sit up.  She could have sworn that he was in the room with them.

            "Take it easy, okay?  You haven't had a chance to recover yet," Kagome scolded.  Ruri allowed Kagome to push her back onto the floor once she'd managed to convince herself that Inu wasn't in the room. Granted, sitting up probably wasn't the best move she could have made, since the room was now swimming in circles around her.  

            She closed her eyes to shut out the swirling.  It seemed like every part of her body ached.  Even her heart ached.  Her eyes snapped open as her brain rejected the notion.  Big mistake.  She closed her eyes again against the spinning.  No, she really was feeling that emotion.  She tried to focus her thoughts amidst the lingering poison which still partially clouded her judgment.

            She knew that she had nothing to be upset about.  Okay, maybe she harbored a little jealousy against Sango-san for being a better swordswoman than she was.  Baka.  Why would that matter?  Inu-kun obviously wasn't interested in Sango-san; she wasn't competition.  Inu-kun was... Baka.  'That's not the problem and you know it,' Ruri told herself.  Focusing on the ache her emotions were feeling helped her forget the physical aches she was feeling, so she tried to isolate it.

            The more she focused on what she was feeling the more she became aware that this feeling was not internal.  Baka.  All emotions are internal.  But she couldn't accept that this feeling of heartache came from herself.  She simply did not have a reason for such pain.  Yet, it was growing.  It was definitely slowly growing stronger and stronger, as if emotion had a physical form and was walking up to her.  Where were Akito-san and Yurika-san when she needed them?  She felt herself beginning to cry.  Baka.  Baka!  She had no reason to cry.  Where was Inu-kun? He was the only person she knew here who might be able to help her.

            "Inu-kun," she said softly.

******

            Inu was almost back to Kaede's hut when he heard his name called again.  He broke from his stride and almost fell on his face.  No one was around.  Miroku, Sango and his uncle were all walking back.  Perplexed, he hurried the final distance back to Kaede's hut.  He slowed when he got to the hut.  He pushed back the mat and stepped inside.

            Ruri's dizziness was slowly fading, she realized, as she pushed herself up.  She looked up at Inu-kun, and, defying every ounce of logic she had, suddenly knew where the pain was coming from.  Despite the physical ache from her side, she stood and ran to him.  She watched him lean down to pull her close to him as she approached.  She dove the final part and wrapped her arms around him.

            As soon as they touched, Inu felt as if he had been punched in the stomach.  Unable to stand, he fell to his knees as everything happening in Ruri's mind washed over him.  His mind struggled to find its strength.  'Dammit, I'm Ruri's protector!  I can't let her down this way!'

            "I know, Inu-kun, it's okay" Ruri said softly.

******

            Inu inhaled deeply as he felt sunlight poke through an unpatched hole onto his skin.

            'Mmm, stew'

            'Baka.'

            'Baka yourself.  Mizu no Shi is a BITCH of a spell to cast.  I've only cast it at training targets before, not a being.  I was hungry every time before, and I'm starving now.'

            Ruri audibly sighed, garnering a raised eyebrow from Kagome.

            'So, Inu-kun, put on that stupid hat and 'naze nani' this.'

            Inu laughed out loud and sat up, working a kink out of his shoulder.

            "But I wanted the rabbit ears."

            Kagome stared.  "You've... gone... loony."

            'Okay, here's best guess, Ruri-chan.  A blood transfusion is normally no big deal.  Happens every day.  But as far as I know, there's never been a youkai-human or youkai-hanyou transfusion.'

            'So you're going to tell me that I got part of your soul and vice-versa or something?'

            "Something like that," Inu said with a smile.

            "Mm-mmm-Miko K-k-kaede!"

            'You're really starting to freak your aunt out.  You should stop switching between a mental channel and an audible one.'

            'Ever the comp operator, aren't you?  Of course, it's analogous to our present situation.'

            Ruri lifted her hands and started at the circuits embedded in them.  "I guess you could say that.  Just like I can communicate with the ship's computer either by touching an access point or by talking to it, we can now communicate via a verbal link like everyone else in the world or a mental one."

            "Does that convince you of our sanity?" Inu teased his aunt.

            "Uh, yeah, sort of."  She handed them each stew as miko Kaede stuck her head back in.  Seeing the guests up, she came in and sat down.

            "How long were we unconscious?

            "It's only mid-morning," Kagome said reassuringly.  She filled in the elder miko on the previous conversation.

            "Interesting," Kaede said when Kagome had finished.  "So what caused ye both to pass out last night?"

            Inu shrugged.  "Neither of us were in a normal mental state.  Ruri-chan was injured and I was weakened from Mizu no Shi."

            "I must say that it is disturbing that anyone knows how to cast that spell, even more so that one aligned against us should know it."

            Ruri looked at Inu's face.  She saw sadness pass across it and felt the heartache she had felt the night before.

            Regaining his composure, the youkai spoke "You will not be troubled by that one in your lifetime."

            The elder miko read that it was a subject which should not be broached, but the younger lacked the insight.  "And why not?"

            It clicked for Ruri, and she let the tears slowly fall out.  "You didn't have a choice, Inu-kun."

            "I know."  Reading the confusion on the mikos' faces, he explained.  "That was my grandmother I destroyed."

            "So the other one was- was your mother?"  Kagome's shock was plain, but Kaede took it in stride.

            "I see.  Thus if ye had killed thy mother before thee was born, how could ye have been born?"

            "It's not just that."  Inu lowered his head.  "Because I killed her mother, she will harbor a grudge against the clan of Inutaishou.  Knowing that Inuyasha-sama was also present, she will believe that I was Sesshoumaru-sama.  Thus when she meets him again in several hundred years, she will ingratiate herself to my father in order to strike back and cause him the most pain possible.  As a part of that revenge, she will bear me.  Had I not killed her mother, I would not have been born, and I would not have dragged Ruri-chan back here to be injured."

            The mikos sat in silence at this.

            'Baka.  You didn't drag me here.  You gave me a choice and told me that it would be dangerous.  You also know that's not exactly how her revenge goes, either.  Unless it was me you lied to.'

            'No, you know the entire truth. This is to keep them ignorant of things that they could affect.'

            'But, Inu-kun, haven't we basically proved you can't alter history?  I know you Inu-kun, even better now.  You wouldn't purposefully harm me, this is the way-'

            "-that history is meant to happen," Kaede said, apparently finishing a rather lengthy speech.  Inu had caught only the last part of what the miko said, but knew that it matched Ruri's words.

            "I can't accept it wholesale, but there's more than a grain of truth in what you say," Inu said, more so to Ruri than to the miko.

            'Inu-kun, I want to go for a walk.'

******


	18. First Contact

There and Back Again 

Chapter Eighteen:  First Contact

            'Inu-kun, I want to go for a walk.'

            Inu nodded and rose, collecting his swords.  Ruri followed him outside, and saw Inu's uncle lounging on top of the hut.  He sat up when he saw them.

            "Oi, Hoshino."

            "Hai, Inuyasha-sama?"  Ruri looked up to see him toss her Tetsusaiga to her.

            "You fought well, for a little kid.  You might someday live long enough to have pups of your own if you keep fighting like that."  The hanyou was in complete darkness as to why Ruri's pale face suddenly turned completely crimson.  Inu-kun walked a little way down the path, pretending not to hear her thoughts on the matter.  Had his uncle heard those same thoughts, there wouldn't have been much mystery to him as to why she was blushing.  Ruri hurried to catch up with him.

            The two wandered through the forest for a while in silence.  Neither said anything nor even thought very much.  Both forced themselves to think about the weather, bird calls, trees.  They reached a sunlight-filled clearing in the forest which was covered in a thick carpet of grass.  Ruri laid down in the green, staring up at the sky.  She felt more than saw her friend seat himself beside her.

            'Inu-kun, are we monsters?'

            Inuyasha blinked at the question.  'No more so than anyone else in the world considered abnormal.'

            'Baka.  You know what I mean.'

            'Baka yourself.  I gave the answer I mean.  Freaks, monsters, lepers.  The human race has a tendency to hate whatever it considers to be something other than normal.'  He flopped back against the grass to stare at the sky with Ruri.  'Whether someone is a monster or not has nothing to do with appearance, blood, or skill.

            'Laymen, Johnson, my mother and grandmother.  They're all driven by greed and hate.  Motivation is all that matters; they've chosen to paint their own souls black.  The mechanics of a situation often are irrelevant.  Yurika-san and Akito-san did not give birth to you, but are indeed parents to you.  Even though she wears no ring yet, Yurika-san is more of a wife to Akito-san than many women who have worn a ring for decades, and vice versa.'

            Ruri nodded.  'And even though Yurika-san has issued orders which resulted in people dying, she has no blood on her hands.'

            'Exactly.'

            They stared at the sky a while longer, as Ruri pondered what they had said.  Inu appeared content to say nothing, so it was Ruri who broke the silence next.

            "Inu-kun..."  She looked over to him and stretched out her hand.  After inadvertently rendering each other unconscious the night before, they had both carefully avoided coming into physical contact with each other.  Inuyasha let his hand extend as well, and let the skin of his palm brush against hers.  He held his hand at that point in space for some time as the tides and emotions that churned inside their minds crashed against each other.

            Neither was sure what the other was experiencing.  When they were not in contact, communication along that mental channel was simple, an altered version of the same way they talked with everyone else around them.  When there was physical contact, however, it was a far different story.  The youkai understood now that the amount of contact between them really did directly affect their link.  If and when Ruri returned to space, they would probably only be able to faintly hear each other.  With their minds active now, they were torrents against each other.  Inuyasha saw an image before him that he didn't recognize.  It must have been from Ruri.  It was a man in a rather bland blue and black uniform, who was either youkai or hanyou but definitely not all human.  His ears resembled those of himself and his father Sesshoumaru.

            Ruri audibly giggled next to him.  'That's Spock, baka.'

            'I thought you didn't care for twentieth century television.'  Inuyasha recognized it now.  He hadn't watched much Star Trek, but what he knew about Vulcans and mind melds did seem appropriate right now.

            'Baka.  Just because I'm not a big anime fan like Akito-san doesn't mean I don't like all of it.'

            'Point taken.'

            Ruri closed her hand around his and they felt the tides crash further into each other.  If it was this chaotic now, what would it be like if they ever- 

            Inuyasha felt Ruri quickly let go of his hand.  Where the hell had _that_ unbidden thought come from?  He blinked.  When he thought about it, he was forced to admit that, yes, she was a beautiful girl, and would become an even more beautiful woman.  But that thought... he'd never even entertained those thoughts.  With the receding of the tides between them he became able to sort thoughts back into what she had thought versus what he had thought.  That particular thought didn't fall into his column.

            'Baka.  Why did I let myself think anything like that? I'm thirteen; I don't understand adult things like that.'

            Though she had sat up and was turned away from him, the son of Sesshoumaru could feel her embarrassment.    He moved to sit behind her, and placed a hand on her shoulder.  Ruri could tell that he was trying to control his mind's output as she felt a wave of compassion and caring move across her.

            'Ruri, you have nothing to be embarrassed about.  Sure, I'm surprised to hear you of all people say... _think_ that.  I guess I was being prophetic when we first got here and I said we shouldn't worry about trying to hide anything from each other.'

            Ruri smiled slightly, her face still red.  She turned to face him.  'Inu-kun, will you... kiss me?'

            Inuyasha leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead.  He felt the wave of disappointment in her.  'When you're eighteen, Ruri-chan.  Until then, we should keep -kun and -chan literal.'

            'Promise?'

            'Do you think it's possible for me to lie to you?'

            'Baka, no.  Promise.'

            'I promise, Ruri-chan, to kiss you properly when you turn eighteen.'

******


	19. Hiking Back

Author's Note:  Footnotes at the end of the chapter. 

******

There and Back Again 

Chapter Nineteen:  Hiking Back

            His answer placated Ruri.  She let herself fall back into the grass.  'I wish we could stay here.'

            The youkai decided to tease the hanyou despite his better judgment.  'Did I just hear computer-girl extraordinaire Hoshino Ruri say that she wanted to stay in a time when there is no electricity for her comp, no running water for her hair, and a fight around every corner?'

            'Baka.  I meant stay _here_.'  She thudded a fist softly into the ground.

            Inuyasha paused to take in the surroundings again.  "I know.  I wish we could too.  No Nergal, no Jovians.  No worrying about protecting jewel shards until you figure how to go back in time to get rid of them."

            Ruri rolled onto her stomach and propped up on her elbows.  "Inu-kun, I don't get one thing.  You're strong enough to not be controlled by the shards like that centipede, why do you hate them so much?"

            Inuyasha popped a few joints as he thought.  "It's not that I hate them, Ruri-chan.  It's that I... fear them."  Ruri's eyes widened at the thought of him fearing something.  "They have a tremendous amount of power that requires your entire focus to be able to control.  You've heard us talk about Naraku.  He rarely fought his own battles unless forced to, because he focused all of his energies on controlling the shards themselves instead of the shards controlling him.  And who's to say that they weren't controlling him?  It's not like he was trying to use them to help the world.

            "No, I think that there is only one person in all of time who can actually control the Shikon no Tama.  Kagome-obasan.  Not even her predecessor in reincarnation, the miko Kikyou, could purify the jewel, and she herself was destroyed by its evil through Naraku.  If I were to actually use the jewel, even for noble reasons, even with all of the power I have, it would consume me."  He looked straight at Ruri.  "Um, I'm about to say something that will show just how much I fear that jewel, but it's very arrogant for me to say it, so feel free to be liberal with 'baka', okay?"

            Ruri nodded and he continued.  "To be honest, I haven't shown you half of what I can do.  I possess all of the Inu-youkai powers of my father and all of the Mizu-youkai powers of my mother, plus several variations which combine their attacks, such as how I performed Mizu no Shi on my grandmother."  Ruri sorted back through their "mind meld" to see the pentacle carved by the energy whips of his father.  "With power does come responsibility.  Each attack requires a little more mental strength to be able to control it and keep it in check.  The more attacks you can use, the more your mind must control them.  Inuyasha-sama doesn't have to have much mental control to be able to command his attacks.  Otou-san requires much more, but it still doesn't approach the control which I have of my mind.  All of that, and I still fear that the jewel will possess me."

            "Baka.  'It ain't braggin' if you can back it up.'" she countered in perfect English.

            The youkai smiled warmly.  "I guess you've got a point."  The smile faded slightly.  "When Otou-san found the first Shikon no Kakera, it was already several years after Kagome-sama and Inuyasha-sama died.  At that point, he was still far stronger than I was, and he forced me to use the shard one day in training.  It consumed me.  I was unable to fight its control.  Otou-san saved my life when he removed the shard from me as much as if he had blocked a sword aimed at my throat.  His plan worked though.  Since then I've never had any desire to possess the completed Shikon no Tama for myself."

            He stood and stretched.  "We should head back."

            Ruri sighed.  'I don't wanna.'

            'You asking to be carried, imouto?' [**1**]

            'I dare you, nii-chan.' "EEP!"[**2**]

            Ruri found her self hoisted onto the youkai's back.  They again were inside of each other's minds, but Ruri found it more controlled this time.  She propped an elbow on each of his shoulders, and placed her chin in her hands.  'Nii-chan, are you learning more control?'

            'With added power comes added responsibility,' the youkai repeated to the hanyou.  'It's getting easier to keep my mind focused so it's not a deluge to you when we're in contact.'  He kept the floodgates of his mind open enough for her to not be overwhelmed, and listened to her responses.  Growing accustomed to influx of thoughts from her mind as well, he let his mind wander.

            'I can't believe they asked you that,' Ruri echoed in his mind.

            'Huh?'  Oops, he'd let his mind drift back to the grilling Sango and Kagome had given him.  'Oh, that.  I wouldn't worry about it, imouto.  They were trying to look after you, after all.'  Ruri lapsed back into silence.  Inuyasha wasn't entirely sure if she was embarrassed about it or mad about it since he was getting mixed signals passed into his head.  He accidentally let his mind drift back several years to a part he'd tried to block from his mind.  Unfortunately, Ruri caught the thought.

            The youkai braced himself as Ruri's thoughts smashed into him.  Shock, anger and jealousy were the big ones that hit him.  The youkai winced at the force in his head.

            'You didn't tell me you have a girlfriend.'  He heard icicles in her voice.

            'Had.' the demon corrected.  'I believe we're roughly the same age as demons go, though she's much older than I am by human reckoning.  We had gotten together about a year before I bumped into Inuyasha-sama and Kagome-sama at the gas station.  She was actually with Jaken and I that day.  But after the events with Ofukuro..." he paused and Ruri felt sadness emanate from him.  She hugged his neck as he continued to walk back to the village.

            'After Ofukuro's attack, Otou-san's hatred shifted from being towards humans to being towards youkai.  He even once made comment that after Rin died he should have married a human or at most a hanyou instead of a youkai.  I can't blame him for making me swear that I would never mate with a youkai.'

            He heard a sniff come from his back.  "Hey, no crying back there, imouto," he said aloud.

            "But, it's not fair that your father made you leave her," Ruri insisted.

            "Otou-san knew that my loyalty to him was stronger than that to my dead mother, but wanted to ensure the same if I ever chose to have children.  Fair or no, I bear no grudge against Sesshoumaru-sama for it."

            "Youkai are weird."

            "Yep."

******

**Footnotes**:

1. Imouto means "little sister"

2. "nii-chan" is an affectionate way to say "older brother".


	20. Up The Rabbit Hole

There and Back Again 

Chapter Twenty:  Up the Rabbit Hole

            They walked the rest of the way back to the village in relative silence.  After a little needling from Ruri, he called in his mind the image of his old girlfriend, which somehow helped her get over her jealousy.  And Ruri said youkai were weird.

            'I heard that, baka.'

******

            They returned to Kaede's hut shortly before dinner, and helped the miko prepare the evening meal for the group.  At dinner it was decided that the quartet of the two Inuyashas, Kagome and Ruri would go time-hopping in the morning.

            Each had their own thoughts on the departure.  Ruri was certainly looking forward to getting back to a time where should could escape into a climate-controlled environment where power cells running down weren't as big a deal and running water wasn't confined to streams and rivers.  At the same time it meant dealing with Nergal again.  She'd even heard rumors already that Nadesico was about to be put back into duty, and soon.  Granted, Akito-san and Yurika-san would be on the ship, no doubt, but Inu-kun wouldn't be there.  'I wonder if there's not some function he could serve aboard ship,' Ruri thought, momentarily forgetting their link.

            'Sorry imouto.  But don't worry.  As we use this more, it appears to becoming stronger, not weaker.  Distance I'm sure will create some problems, but not insurmountable.'   He looked over at her, and in Ruri's mind she saw herself.  She blinked.  She saw herself blink in her mind.  He blinked.  The picture vanished to black then returned.  Inu's mind laughed and his face smiled.  'I'm finding more and more that minds are like servers - once you figure out where to look for the 'hardware' directory, it's a lot easier to share information between 'devices'.'

            'Hmm.  I guess I'll watch what I'm wearing when I brush my teeth from now on.'

            It was rare when Ruri laughed, but she laughed until she cried at the youkai spewing a mouthful of rice and stew onto Miroku.  Ruri quickly sought out how to transmit her eyes to him and showed him the look on his face at her comment, which caused him to return the laugh.

            As the duo sought to calm their laughing, the rest of the room began having serious doubts as to the sanity of the two.  Ruri leaned on Inu's shoulder, knowing that it might be the last time she would be able to do so for some time.  There was no telling what would happen once they got back.

            Inu, for his part, was looking forward to returning so he wouldn't have to worry so much about the flow of time.  He didn't want to really leave imouto's side, but he knew that he had businesses and investments to take care of back home.

            Miko Kaede wasn't looking forward to the two's leaving.  She kept hoping that some of his nephew's manners might rub off on Inuyasha.  She sighed.  _That_ was an impossibility.

            Sango and Miroku weren't looking forward to Inu's and Ruri's departure.  Miroku was sorry that he hadn't had a chance to try to get Ruri to bear his child.  Futile, he knew, as he had guessed that she would wait around for the youkai, but still, it was his duty to try.  Sango, for her part, was sorry that she wouldn't have a chance to finish their fight and kick the youkai's ass in the end.

            Kagome looked forward to getting to go to the future and see what the shrine would look like, and maybe what her children looked like.  She wondered if anyone she knew besides Sesshoumaru might have lived that long.  Would Kagura or Kanna still be around?  Would Naraku evade them until then?  For that matter, would she bump into Shippou?  If Inuyasha's brother could live that long, it would be entirely within the realm of possibility that the kitsune asleep on her lap might live that long as well.

            Inuyasha wondered if they still had instant ramen in the future.

            The next morning dawned bright and clear. The whole group walked to the well to see the travelers off.  Goodbyes were short.  Shippou cried, even though he really hadn't known the two very long.  Kirara purred happily as Ruri scratched her ears goodbye, and Miroku managed to avoid grabbing Ruri's posterior in the process. A withering glance from Sango plus a threatening gesture at the tsuka of one of Inu's swords helped his strength in resisting.  Sango decided to hug both of them goodbye.  Even though she hugged Ruri first, and longer, Inu still felt a short flash of jealousy from Ruri when Sango hugged him.  Without further ceremony, the four hopped through the well and into the twentieth century.

            The four reconvened outside the well house.  Kagome sighed, glad to be home if but for a few minutes.  Inuyasha breathed deeply, smelling once again the strange scents of this time that he was slowly becoming accustomed to.  Ruri for her part was impatient.  Hanging out here was akin stopping for lunch by a "Home - 35 mi." sign.  She then sighed at nii-chan.  Gears were obviously clinking in his head.  She heard with a portion of her mind Kagome-san making noises about stopping to take a bath.  That was appetizing, but Ruri still wanted _home, even if home was now more a time than a place.  Unfortunately, her mind heard Inu-kun agree with his aunt._

            Her mind returned back to the other two as she heard the elder Inuyasha making noise about having to keep moving.  Inu raised his hand to stop his uncle.  "If the girls wish to stop to shower, we shouldn't stop them.  Frankly, if the same amount of time has passed in our time as passed in Sengoku Jidai, then we'll be in for a fight when we step through the tree.  Nergal will have a private army waiting for us. Besides," he continued, clamping a hand on his elder's shoulder, "there are plenty of times when they win arguments on their own.  No harm in letting them win an argument once in a while."  Further argument was academic.  Kagome was headed inside with Ruri in (slightly resistant) tow.

******


	21. Baka to the Future

There and Back Again 

Chapter Twenty-One:  Baka to the Future

            The two Inuyashas plopped themselves on the roof below Kagome's open window and listened as the girls chattered en route to the shower.  Well, Kagome chattered.  Ruri listened and refrained from saying "baka," although she thought it loud enough for Inu to hear several times.  Inu smiled at her thoughts and made sure to back out of Ruri's mind enough that he wouldn't accidentally be exposed to something she'd make him regret later.

            "So, um, nephew.  What happens?"

            The youkai looked at the hanyou.  "What happens to what?"

            The hanyou looked down, blushing slightly.  The youkai smiled.  "I see.  I suppose the answer you're looking for is 'yes.'  And quite happily, I might add.  You might want to avoid asking too many questions about your own future, though."

            "And why's THAT?"

            The younger laughed slightly.  "It has nothing to do with anything bad happening in your life.  Sure, life's not easy, and you have plenty of battles left before the jewel is completed.  But it will be.  And modern life won't be so bad, once you get used to it.  Your brother will get used to it, so will you."

            The hanyou blinked, not fully understanding the implications, or not wanting to understand the implications, of his nephew's statements.  One thing he picked up on though, and asked about it.  "So, um, about Sesshoumaru."

            The youkai had laid back against the slates and closed his eyes.  He opened one eye to look at his uncle.  "The two of you make amends eventually.  Not soon though."  He sat back up.  "I'll tell you this much of your own future.  After we part company, the next time you see me welcome your brother with open arms.  Don't ask the chick with me about Ruri, we won't have met yet.  And don't trust my bitch of a mother.  Oh, and feel free to smack Jaken-baka around."  The hanyou nodded, repeating the instructions in a whisper so he wouldn't forget them.  For the most part, they waited in silence, one occasionally asking the other a question.   Finally after what seemed like ages, Inu felt Ruri's presence nearing the open window above him, and both ledge-dwellers smelled lingering shampoo and water.

            "Isn't clean nice?" Kagome said from within the room to the open window.

            "What does it matter?" the hanyou outside retorted, sticking his head up enough to see inside.  "If we gotta fight you'd just get dirty again."

            "Yes, but it's nice now."

            'They're like an old married couple, aren't they imouto?'

            Inu heard Ruri sigh audibly as he joined his uncle by the window.  'True.  At least if we ever fight people won't have to hear it.'

            Inu laughed aloud.  "Hai."

            Kagome looked at her hanyou.  "Do they creep you out too?"  The hanyou nodded.

******

            The four re-convened outside by the tree.  Inu paused and looked down at Ruri, and then turned his head to stare at the ground.  Ruri wasn't sure whether what she felt from him was shame or embarrassment.  His left hand reached into the cloak which again hung around his shoulders.  When the hand exited the cloak again, it was holding a holstered weapon.

            "Ruri, I wish I didn't feel it necessary to give you this.  There's no telling what's on the other side of this tree though.  Neither Inuyasha-sama nor Kagome-sama knows how to use this.  Do you?"

            Inuyasha was ignorant of what the youkai had just handed Ruri.  Kagome knew what it was and shuddered.  Ruri pulled it from its holster.  A Glock 9mm.

            "Hai.  It's lighter than the one they trained me with."

            Inu nodded.  "That was probably a Beretta.  Nergal bought a bunch of them a few years ago.  I pulled this one from Sesshoumaru-sama's collection.  Glocks may not necessarily be better made, but they're lighter because its body has more plastic in it."  Ruri didn't ask how he knew about the weapons purchases of Nergal; she just clipped it into the back of the belt holding Hanyou's Protector.  Inu passed her extra clips which she shoved into her pack.

            Satisfied, the youkai produced a Chulip crystal and was handed a shard by Kagome.  He jammed it into the crystal as before, and Ruri saw the light flare from it again.  She took his hand once more as he approached the tree, then reached back to grab Kagome's hand.  Unsure if it was necessary or not but afraid of leaving him there, Kagome grabbed Inuyasha's hand to complete the chain.

******

            As Kagome stepped out of the tree, she was greeted with the familiar sight of the shrine with subtle changes.  Inuyasha probably wouldn't even be able to tell what had changed.  Two things were certainly different.  A young man, probably about the age of the Inuyashas was tinkering with a dirt bike on the pavement before them.  The other was the stately form of Sesshoumaru.

            Bowing to his father, Inu greeted the other man with "Oi, decide we weren't coming back and you'd do your own mods?"

            "What're you talking about dog-boy?"  The man retorted.  "You've only been gone a coupla hours.  I figured I'd make sure you hadn't done something stupid to it." He stood and turned around, wiping his hands and wrench on a rag.  Kagome's eyes almost left her head, the man dropped the tool and rag, and even Inuyasha's eyes were registering surprise.

            "Sh-Shippou?" Inuyasha stated.  Kagome hadn't found her voice yet.

            "Inuyasha!  Kagome!"  The youkai raced to embrace them.  Well, that answered the question Kagome had last night.  The trio chattered (most of which was Shippou and Kagome) as Inu took a few steps into the compound.  Ruri and his father followed him.

            "Nergal is aware of our treachery."

            "I am not surprised, Father.  How soon before they come to us?"

            "Not long.  The shards have been given?"

            "Hai."

            "Kagome-sama!  Inuyasha-sama!  You must return NOW!"  The hanyou and human read the fear in Sesshoumaru's voice.

            Shippou obviously wasn't pleased with this.  "Why?  They just got here!"

            "Baka," the dark-robed youkai snarled.  "We are in grave danger.  They must not come to harm, and Nergal must NOT get its hands on any part of the jewel."

            A helicopter sounded in the distance.  Ruri guessed its purpose and didn't even have to see it.  She sighed.  "Again with the helicopters. Baka no baka," she finished with a shrug.

******


	22. High Speed, Inuyashastyle Car Chases

There and Back Again 

Chapter Twenty-Two:  High Speed, Inuyasha-style Car Chases

            Laymen's helicopter, safely in the back of the pack of five helicopters, arrived at the shrine in time to see the last vestiges of the light from the tree as Kagome and Inuyasha returned to their "own" time.

            Shippou was still pissed that Kagome and Inuyasha didn't get to stay longer, but the approaching helicopters promised some fun.  An idea struck him.  "Hey, dog-boy."

            "What?"

            "Got any kind of expensive-looking container?  Velvet pouch?  Elaborate box?  Shiny bauble?"

            Inuyasha blinked at the question, but an evil smile spread across the face of his father.  Sesshoumaru produced from his robes a rather large and elaborately-decorated velvet drawstring coin purse and handed it to Ruri in such a way that no one in the helicopters caught the transaction.  For the first time, Ruri had to do the explaining to Inuyasha.

            Shippou gunned the bike to life as the now-cognizant-of-the-plan Inuyasha scooped up Ruri and started for the gate.  She knew nii-san was basically jogging, but that was part of the fun.  As Shippou pulled up alongside, she very visibly threw him the coin pouch.  They went separate directions at the gate.

            Watching them split apart, the helicopters divvied up the chase and Laymen started screaming into the radio for the ever-ready men in black to aide in the chase.  Laymen, of course, forgot that like everything else Nergal, the cars of the men in black bore a very large Nergal logo.  Thus, as Shippou leaned, ducked and dodged the bike through narrow streets, the Nergal cars were careening off of anything in the road and causing quite a bit of damage.  And everyone knew who to send the bill to.  For his part, Shippou was having a great time using the chase as an excuse to just drive ridiculously fast.

            Inuyasha and Ruri, on the other hand, were dancing across cars on the freeway.  Most of the drivers didn't even notice them as they bounced around, especially since the Nergal-branded sedans were quite a bit bigger and more worrisome.  The helicopters broke off pursuit rather quickly once they noticed that both of their targets were headed deeper and deeper into the heart of the city.  Despite Laymen's promises of ever-increasing bonuses if they didn't break off pursuit, the pilots all knew their licenses would be pulled if they strayed in too close to established flight paths.  A bonus on Tuesday didn't matter if you got fired for losing your license on Monday.

            Thus, the pursuit was left up to the less-than-capable ground forces.  Nergal's "pursuit" drivers were little more than limo drivers, which was fine for traveling around with dignitaries and doing a little bit of evasive driving every once in a while if there was an assassination attempt.  However, they weren't quite trained in the art of _following_ at high speeds.  Calls were made to the local police forces for help, but every call ended the same way - with a "Hey, guys, you wanna know what this dumbass is asking for?" from the law enforcement end of the line.

            Sesshoumaru sighed at the stalled traffic.  He was seriously trying to obey traffic laws and still rendezvous with his son someplace.  Finally, he gave up.  Cutting onto the inner emergency lane, he gunned the engine and shot past the traffic.  Many areas of modern life he frankly didn't care for, but his car was an exception.  Of course, it helped that his car was as demonic as he was, even if he didn't particularly care for this particular model's name.  It reminded him of Naraku.

            Inuyasha and Ruri paused on top of a truck.  He could see a couple of Nergal sedans nearby, but they hadn't thought to pop the sunroofs and stick their heads out yet.  He had to give the drivers credit - despite the rather large traffic jam, they'd managed to keep up with the two car bouncers.  Ruri stretched her arms which were cramping after clinging so tightly to Inu-kun.  She watched as the traffic began to free up ahead of them.

            'Where to now, nii-chan?'

            'Not sure exactly, imout-,'  he clipped the word, hearing an all-too-familiar growl coming up the emergency lane on his left.  He and Ruri poked their heads around the corner of the truck's bed as it accelerated to keep up with traffic.  Ruri felt Inuyasha smile in her mind at the sight of the car, which she didn't recognize.  It was a white Ferrari Spyder, with what looked like some custom paint on it.  As the car sped closer to the moving van, Ruri saw that the car had a purple moon painted on the hood, with dark red striping around it.  It reminded her of the markings on Inuyasha's father, which turned out to be accurate when the driver lowered the top on the vehicle.

            Inuyasha pulled Ruri around to hold her in front of him and jumped down into the car which had matched their speed.  They landed in the leather upholstery with a soft thunk.

            "Konnichi-wa, Sesshoumaru-sama."

            Ruri was a bit shocked at his reply of "Whassup?"  Ruri blinked and twisted to look up at Inuyasha for an explanation.

            'Otou-san's personality is a bit... different when he gets behind the wheel,' Inu explained as he helped guide the roof back over their heads as his father accelerated.  It really didn't like closing at sixty miles an hour and hated a hundred, so it needed a little bit of help.  A gear ground in the roof's lift mechanism and he knew he would have some work to do later.

            'Is this more of that 'Bill and Ted' thing?'

            'Hai.'

            'Baka.'

            'Hai.  Don't tell him I said so though.'

            'I won't.  Maybe.'  Ruri watched as Sesshoumaru, Lord of the Western Lands, donned sunglasses that went out of fashion a hundred years ago and spun the volume control up on music that went out of fashion a hundred and fifty years ago.  They looked around them for a while, but apparently all of Nergal's sedans had either decided that they weren't going to chase a Ferrari or had genuinely missed them getting into the vehicle.

******

            Ruri drummed her fingers on the table, occasionally thumbing through the open binder in front of her.  Inuyasha had churned out eight inches of paper and called it a report on what happened and why time travel was impossible.  The last few days had been rather boring after the trip through time and the subsequent anime-approved ridiculous car chase.  Granted, she, Akito-san and Yurika-san got to spend the better part of a week doing nothing at the Inutaishou's summer home about an hour's drive from Tokyo, and she and Inuyasha did get to spend more time hanging out together.  However, Inu had spent most of the days cooped up in front of a terminal pounding out the ridiculousness in front of her.  She listened for a moment to nii-chan standing beside where she was sitting, droning on and on about how it was Laymen's fault the project failed, that Nergal interference also contributed to the failure, and that all jewel shards which remained in existence had been destroyed when Laymen needlessly brought five Nergal helicopters to the Higurashi shrine.

            She sighed.  'When are you going to finish?'

            Without missing a beat from the speech, Inuyasha replied 'Probably forty-five minutes or so.  I'm well aware no one's listening at this point.  I'm obviously on auto-pilot.'

            'I'm hungry.'

            'So am I.  Otou-san's taking us to lunch after we're done here though.'

            Forty-four minutes and thirty seconds later, Inuyasha completed his droning.  The Nergal panel investigating the project asked a few random questions, then went ahead and announced their decision.  Laymen had presented a one inch binder for a report; Inuyasha's was eight.  Corporate custom dictated the winner before the speeches even started.  The panel left the room, and Ruri stood up and stretched as Sesshoumaru, Akito, and Yurika walked up to the pair.

            "Pizza."  There was no question about what Ruri meant by that.  They retreated to a local parlor which Sesshoumaru, apparently an expert in the food, found favorable.  Ruri couldn't argue with his judgment.  The group talked lightly over lunch, the white-haired pair filling their guardians in on any parts they hadn't yet.  They managed to leave out the whole part about the mental link from the transfusion.  Akito and Yurika didn't know about it and wouldn't.  It would be a liability to them if they knew, and Ruri wasn't about to become the subject of a Nergal test facility.  Inu had told his father of the link since there wasn't much chance of Nergal hearing it from him.  After much procrastination the two parties took their leave of each other from the pizza restaurant.  Both sets of parents noticed the lingering sadness from their children as they parted company.

******


	23. Reunion of Friends

There and Back Again 

Chapter Twenty-Three:  Reunion of Friends

            The two did not get to see each other very often.  Inuyasha became more involved in his and his father's business interests, and Nergal wanted Ruri back on the Nadesico.  The youkai was stuck in London when the shuttle incident occurred, and locked himself in his hotel suite as he did his best to console Ruri, becoming part of the pain that she could never publicly show.  His pride far exceeded that of almost everyone else Ruri knew combined when she was given command of the Nadesico permanently.

            Suitors for Ruri did come, as Inuyasha knew they would, and he often would nag her for how coldly she turned them away.  He knew that she was waiting for him to fulfill his promise to her, but he also didn't want her to avoid contact with humans to do so.  She finally did cave in and did go on a few dates, and found that she was having more fun listening to the youkai's commentary on the situation than actually being in the situation.

            They spoke on the vidphone channel fairly often, and kept in touch via email.  Their mental channel always stayed open, though when Ruri was in deep space the distance made it hard for them to hear each other, and both had to retreat to a quiet room to carry on any meaningful conversation.

            It had been a year and a half since she actually got to see Inuyasha in person, shortly after the Prince of Darkness incident, and she felt that she missed him greatly.  Nadesico's being in deep space patrol as her birthday approached wasn't helping either.  Even if he couldn't be with her physically, Inu had always spent her birthday with his mind completely open to her, and always sent her presents if he couldn't deliver them in person.

            The day of her eighteenth birthday "dawned" (as such is relative in space) and Ruri was not looking forward to the event.  Inuyasha was on a business trip and Nergal had coincidentally decided to announce its new CEO onboard the Nadesico at a lavish dinner party this evening.  It was also this day that Hari, a long-time member of her bridge crew, chose to try to express his devotion to her.  She'd figured out some time ago that he was interested, but frankly didn't share the affection.  She did care for him, but not in the way that he wanted her to.  He blathered on in front of the desk in her office as she felt the blood vessels in her head begin to constrict.

            'Nii-chan, where are you?'

            'Still in your head, imouto.'  He dug through her head until he found the fledgling migraine and forced the blood vessels to release.

            She sighed, one pain out of the way.  'You're getting a lot better at that.'

            She felt him laugh.  'As many business ventures as father and I have each done, this one's the most 'corporate.'  I haven't worn suits this much in a long time.  I've had a lot of experience with headaches as of late.'  Ruri stifled a laugh as he sent her a mental image of ":P".

            'If I understand correctly, your final guest should be docking shortly.'

            'Baka.  He's not my guest, he's the new Nergal bigwig.'

            'Point.  But it gets you out of your office, and Hari'll have to shut up while you're out in the halls.'

            "Hari, can this wait?  We have to greet the new Nergal chairman."

            "Uh, okay, Captain."

            "And, Hari, please stick with protocol in his presence, okay?"

            "Er, okay, I mean, Yes, sir."

            'Good one, imouto.'

            Ruri rose from her desk and headed for the door, Hari close on her heels.  As she entered the hallway, a furball of a protocol droid rolled up beside her and began the briefing her on the protocols Nergal had decided upon for visiting chairmen-to-be.  Ruri reflected that someone had too much time on their hands to create protocols for how to behave around an executive officer.

            'It's fine to tune the droid out, Ruri - the new guy's a lot more laid back than the protocols they're making up.'

            'You know him?  That's how you knew he was going to be here.'

            'Hai.  Try to be nice to him, imouto.'

            'Alright.  He's still a corporate lackey.  No offense.'  She hastily added the last part, remembering what he had said about his current venture.

            'None possible.'

            The two Nadesico officers walked out onto the observation deck to the landing dock, waiting for the green light to signal it was re-pressurized.  Finally, it blinked to life and she stepped through the airlock into the actual bay.  The protocol droid began prattling again, so Ruri booted it into the wall.  The shuttle door opened and Ruri went ahead and bowed.

            "Welcome to the Nadesico, sir.  I am Captain Hoshino Ruri."

            "Thank you, Captain.  I am, well, screw it, you know who I am."  Ruri's eyes blinked wide and her head snapped up before her back could straighten out.  Inuyasha smiled, reading the surprise.  "Wow, I didn't think I'd actually be able to pull off the supris--oof!"  Ruri had actually managed to knock the wind out of him, and he had no choice but to hug her back.  It was that or crumple to the floor.

            He flashed a picture of Hari into her head.  'I think you took care of your suitor.'

            Hari made a valiant attempt to recover his composure.  "Mr. Chairman, I'll show you to your quarters now, if you would like."

            "However, protocol also says that the Captain may escort guests herself, if she so chooses.  Return to the bridge."

            "Er, yes, Captain."

            Hari scuttled off to the bridge as Ruri grabbed a case with one hand and Inuyasha's arm with the other.  With his free hand, he shouldered a bag, leaving his final items to the two assistants traveling with him.

            'Happy Birthday, Ruri-chan.'

            'Arigato, Inu-kun.  So, why?'

            'Hmm?  Oh, the whole chairman thing?  I strongly disagree with a lot of what Nergal's doing.  The best way to fight corruption is to rip its heart out and replace it, so, well, I did.'  They had ended up in front of the guest dignitary's quarters, which until a few minutes ago Ruri had been cursing because they were next door to her own.  She punched in the code to open the door and they stepped inside.

            She plopped the case she was carrying on the desk and he placed the bag he was holding beside it.  The two Lackeys (they'd chosen the term themselves) dropped off Inutaishou's bags before going to their quarters a few doors down to deposit their own bags.

            Inuyasha tossed his suit coat and tie onto the bed and stretched.  Ruri stayed in the office area, sensing he wanted to put on his fire rat kimono for a while before the dinner that evening.  As he had Omoikane queue up a play list he had stored on the shuttle, a thought began to form in her head.  When he returned to the office area, she gave him an evil smile which before then he'd only seen on his father.

            'Oi, Inu-kun, wanna spar?'  Inuyasha returned the smile.  They hadn't crossed weapons since Sengoku Jidai.  'Come to my quarters in fifteen minutes, and I'll get out of my uniform.'  The youkai nodded and started unpacking bags.

******


	24. One More Fight

There and Back Again 

*****

Author's Note: I've added a footnote at the bottom of this chapter to cover a point resq188 brought up that I should have thought about. The reason for footnote instead of header note is it contains a rather large spoiler about what happens in Nadesico after the conclusion of the series and is the foundation for the movie which followed. Sorry about that oversight, folks. :) And, yep, you're right Bryan, this one's winding down – I modded the Author's Note at the beginning of chapter 1 about what I'm going to do to the story after I finish posting it.

*****

Chapter Twenty-Four: One More Fight

Fifteen minutes later, Inu sounded the chime on Ruri's door. "'Come in.'"

He stepped into the room, which was filled with her scent. He suddenly understood what his uncle used to say about going into Kagome-obasan's bedroom. He turned to see her wearing His uncle's fire rat kimono. Though she was still very slight of frame, she'd still had to let it out so that it would still fit her. He set his bokken on the desk and pulled a small package from behind his back.

'Happy Birthday again, Ruri-chan. And yes, Otou-san did do the ribbons.'

She slit the ribbon from the back of the package with a small knife from her desk to preserve the meticulous bow on top. She opened the box to reveal a necklace with a rather large and bright ruby on its pendant. She closed the box again and kissed Inu's cheek.

'Arigato, Inu-kun.'

'Ruri-chan, remember the promise I made you years ago?'

She stepped closer to him and looked up into his face. "'Hai'" was all she could say or think as their faces grew closer. It was that same moment that Hari, The Ever Persistent, summoned the courage to sound her door chime.

Ruri sighed at the sound and thudded her forehead into Inuyasha's breastbone. Inuyasha kissed the top of her head instead. She had waited five years for this and to have some crewmember screw it up-- She paused and took a breath before hitting the open button a little harder than necessary.

As soon as he saw Ruri in the doorway, he grabbed her shoulders. "Ruri-chan I l-"

"Oi, baka, you should address your CO by her rank." Inuyasha let some fierceness slip into his voice which he really didn't feel.

Hari's face was almost on fire with the heat the blood there generated. He had failed to realize his competitor for Ruri's affection was already in the room. This flustered him greatly, but he managed to stand firm and let go of Ruri's shoulders.

"You! I challenge you for Ruri's hand!"

Inuyasha blinked and his mind asked Ruri if she was okay with the fight.

'So long as baka can report for duty in the morning.'

'Hai.' A quote opportunity sprung into the youkai's head, and he shifted his voice into an odd accent.

"Are yoou challenging me to a DUUUUUUEL?"

Summoning strength and courage he really didn't have, the human responded "Yes, if you have the courage!"

"Spleeendid! So, what manner of combat will the challenger choooose?"

Ruri blinked and then remembered the Star Trek episode he got the accent from. It fit the mismatch in power, but Hari wasn't Kirk. The poor guy didn't stand a chance.

"I choose swords! I am a Third Dan practitioner of Iaido!"

Oh yeah. Zero chance.

"I see," the youkai replied, slipping back into his normal voice. "Well, it seems I left all my blades at home, and only brought a bokken. That'll do."

******

Inuyasha and Ruri arrived at the ship's gym before Hari, who had returned to his quarters to retrieve his sword. They found Inutaishou's Lackeys sparring and let the two finish the match. The opted to end it in a draw and vacate the mat when Hari huffed into the room carrying a carbon-fiber shinai. Youkai and hanyou both decided to let it drop that he was carrying a shinai, not a sword.

The youkai languidly stood and moved to a point on the mat a few feet away from his opponent. Ruri stood and held her bokken out as a line between the two combatants.

She looked to Hari. "Ready?"

"Hai."

"Inutaishou-san?"

"Hai."

"Begin" 'the ass-kicking, my love.' She swung the bokken down and quickly stepped from the mat.

The youkai was caught off-guard by Ruri's comment and didn't bother blocking Hari's first strike. Not that it hit him, he just dodged and didn't bother to bring his weapon up. The perceived lack of fight gave the human false hope. Hari attacked several more times, each one being cleanly dodged by Inuyasha.

"What, not going to fight me?" he smirked.

The demon smiled. "I practice Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu."

"So?"

With a sigh and another dodge, the demon elaborated. "The goal of this Ryu is to read one's opponent's attacks and predict their strikes. Then," the bokken flashed and caught the shinai under the tsuba, flicking the weapon out of the human's hands, "and only then, I strike."

Hari dove and grabbed his shinai. "That's pretty weak though, resorting to trickery."

Inuyasha's grin was dripping with evil. "So you want me to attack you straight on?"

"Hai," the boy said, raising his weapon.

"Sorry, baka." He lunged forward. Hari blocked the first attack, parried the second, then took the third in his arm. He was about to comment how weak that third strike was when he felt another tap. And another. A third, fourth, fifth, sixth, ten, twenty. His opponent broke off his attack and bounced backwards. Hari felt the bruises forming on his arms and legs.

"Baka. You broke the first rule you ever learned. Never take your eyes off your opponent's eyes." Hari brought his shinai up before him again. "Concede defeat or visit sickbay."

Hari didn't move. "I will fight. For Ruri."

"Sickbay it is." Hari managed to keep his eyes locked on his opponent, but terror filled his heart when the eyes became blood red as they flew at him with ungodly speed. He didn't even see the strike coming, he only felt a searing pain in his ribs. It was followed by another searing pain from his sword-arm's shoulder. He dropped his weapon and fell to all fours. He felt the edge of the bokken against his neck and looked up to see his opponent. "Concede. And get thine ass to sickbay."

That was the last thing he heard before blacking out. A jerk of their boss' head and the two Lackeys scooped up the inert form and carried him out for a visit to the dispensary.

'I feel bad for going so hard on him.'

'Baka. He's kind of like your uncle. Sometimes sense has to be beaten into him. We should go get ready for the dinner.'

Inuyasha nodded and the two walked out and towards their respective quarters.

******

Footnote: Shuttle Incident? What shuttle incident?

This one's mainly for the Inuyasha folks. If you're into Nadesico but haven't checked out The Prince of Darkness (which should be released Stateside this year) and/or aren't familiar with The Blank of Three Years, you should be advised that a rather large spoiler is coming. Also, I'm going to plug a friend's website here: www.peacefuldays.org. There's an active forum there which can answer any further questions I raise. I post there as Count_Twit. Drop on by.

As the Inuyasha fans should have guessed by now, Ruri isn't actually the daughter of Akito and Yurika. She's actually a test-tube child, if you want to get technical about it. Akito and Yurika are about 6 or so years older than Ruri, so she doesn't really see them as parents per se, but does indeed consider them family. After the events of the TV series, most of the crew go their seperate ways, and Akito and Yurika become a couple when they return to earth. He lives in an apartment rented from the relative of the ship's engineering chief, and she returns home to her father. Yurika wins custody of Ruri. Yurika's father wasn't happy about the relationship between Yurika and Akito, and eventually in frustration Yurika moved out of her father's house and into Akito's apartment with him, taking Ruri with her. It should also be noted that late in the series Ruri develops a major crush on Akito, though she appears to get mostly over it and lets it mature into more of an older-brother love.

Now for the shuttle incident. (pant, pant.) Akito and Yurika decide to get married, and finally obtain Admiral Misumaru's permission to marry. (Check out peaceful days for a bit more detailed discussion of this.) After the couple gets married, they leave on a shuttle for their honeymoon. However, the shuttle explodes in-flight killing everyone aboard. This devastates Ruri. They were the closest thing to family that she had, and she really proves through this that Nadesico's creators gave her a depth of emotion and character that was completely lost on its US audience.

However, to set up for what I've written following the end of this story, the shuttle incident does not kill Akito and Yurika, and is in fact a means to cover up kidnapping them. However, Ruri is unaware of this for the following two years. Yurika's father gives her command of the Nadesico-B and because no one's sure what happened exactly with the shuttle incident, assigns a bodyguard to Ruri – Saburouta, who gets a way cooler haircut in the movie than he had in the series. Through the B, she also meets another experiment in DNA manipulation, Makibi Hari/Harry/Haley. (All three appear to be equally accepted as his first name.) She grows to see him as a little brother, and my interpretation of the movie is that she'll never see him as anything other than that, though I can see him easily desiring to become romantically involved with her later. (Hence how I've written him.) Let me also say one thing flat out. I hate Hari. He's a brat. Decide for yourself though :)

Hopefully that helps things make a little more sense and that I didn't leave out any major details the Inuyasha fans need to know to get what I'm talking about in these last few chapters. There's a vast body of information about Nadesico, but it's all in Japanese, so US fans of Nadesico often get stuck picking up bits and pieces of it's canon from here and there. The aforementioned peacefuldays.org is probably one of the best sources of Nadesico goodness and background, since there's an actual community building within the site. Links are also provided there to other really good Nadesico sites, including www.rurihoshino.com. If this doesn't help, drop by Peaceful Days' forums or drop me an email – iyami-sama@serial-experiments.org

  
  


  
  


  
  


  
  



	25. A Modest Proposal, More or Less

There and Back Again 

Chapter Twenty-Five:  A (More or Less) Modest Proposal

            Inuyasha was momentarily without words or thought when Ruri opened the door.  She had chosen to wear a traditional kimono to the dinner instead of her uniform, and had her tied her hair behind her head at the neck instead of the twin ponytails she had sported up until now.  Inuyasha was pleased to note that she was wearing the necklace he'd given her a few hours before.  She took his offered arm and they enjoyed each others company to the officer's galley.

            Dinner wouldn't have been bad at all if it had been just the two of them, but the presence of so many people in the room made it difficult to carry on a conversation with just each other, even if they were seated at the head table.

            'Ruri-chan, do you enjoy leading a military vessel?'

            Ruri paused to sort through her thoughts.  'I'm good at it, and it's not a bad life, but... I guess it's not what I want to do the rest of my life.'  Ruri let the introduction for nii-chan's speech end the conversation for the time being.  The introduction ended, and Inuyasha stood.

            "Good evening.  All of us have come a long way to be here this evening.  Both on the physical description, and the spiritual description.  We are here to open up a new chapter in Nergal's history, and hopefully to help usher in an era of peace for our solar system."

            Several cheers sounded, and he let them die down before continuing.  "Today is also the day of birth for the dear Captain of this vessel, whom we all admire and cherish."  On cue, a rather large cake was wheeled out with "Happy Birthday, Captain!" scrawled across it.

            'Baka.  You're quite the conspirator.'

            'Damn straight. And I'm not done yet.'

            Once the applause died down, he turned to look at Ruri and offered his hand.  Blushing slightly, Ruri took his hand and stood.

            "One more chapter I'd like to open, ladies and gentleman."  Ruri watched as he dropped to one knee.  His free hand produced a small box.  "'Hoshino Ruri, will you marry me?'"

            She jerked him back to his feet and embraced him, eyes full of joyful tears. 

             "'Baka, yes.'"

            The room cheered as Inutaishou Inuyasha fulfilled the promise he made to Hoshino Ruri in a forest in Sengoku Jidai.  

--owari--


End file.
